oe voyage was prosperous we would gradually lighten the
loads by eating the provisions. If we met with accidents, such as
losing canoes and men in the rapids, or losing men in encounters with
Indians, or if we encountered overmuch fever and dysentery, the loads
would lighten themselves. We were all armed. We took no cartridges for
sport. Cherrie had some to be used sparingly for collecting specimens.
The others were to be used--unless in the unlikely event of having to
repel an attack--only to procure food. The food and the arms we
carried represented all reasonable precautions against suffering and
starvation; but, of course, if the course of the river proved very
long and difficult, if we lost our boats over falls or in rapids, or
had to make too many and too long portages, or were brought to a halt
by impassable swamps, then we would have to reckon with starvation as
a possibility. Anything might happen. We were about to go into the
unknown, and no one could say what it held.

NOTE:
The first four days, before we struck the upper rapids, and during
which we made nearly seventy kilometres, are of course not included
when I speak of our making our way down the rapids.

I hope that this year the Ananas, or Pineapple, will also be put on
the map. One of Colonel Rondon's subordinates is to attempt the
descent of the river. We passed the headwaters of the Pineapple on the
high plateau, very possibly we passed its mouth, although it is also
possible that it empties into the Canama or Tapajos. But it will not
be "put on the map" until some one descends and finds out where, as a
matter of fact, it really does go.

It would be well if a geographical society of standing would
investigate the formal and official charges made by Colonel Rondon, an
officer and gentleman of the highest repute, against Mr. Savage
Landor. Colonel Rondon, in an official report to the Brazilian
Government, has written a scathing review of Mr. Landor. He states
that Mr. Savage Landor did not perform, and did not even attempt to
perform, the work he had contracted to do in exploration for the
Brazilian Government. Mr. Landor had asserted and promised that he
would go through unknown country along the line of eleven degrees
latitude south, and, as Colonel Rondon states, it was because of this
proposal of his that the Brazilian Government gave him material
financial assistance in advance. However, Colonel Rondon sets forth
that Mr. Landor did n