e bank. They filled,
and the racing current pinned them where they were, one partly on the
other. All of us had to help get them clear. Their fastenings were
chopped asunder with axes. Kermit and half a dozen of the men,
stripped to the skin, made their way to a small rock island in the
little falls just above the canoes, and let down a rope which we tied
to the outermost canoe. The rest of us, up to our armpits and barely
able to keep our footing as we slipped and stumbled among the boulders
in the swift current, lifted and shoved while Kermit and his men
pulled the rope and fastened the slack to a half-submerged tree. Each
canoe in succession was hauled up the little rock island, baled, and
then taken down in safety by two paddlers. It was nearly four o'clock
before we were again ready to start, having been delayed by a rain-
storm so heavy that we could not see across the river. Ten minutes'
run took us to the head of another series of rapids; the exploring
party returned with the news that we had an all day's job ahead of us;
and we made camp in the rain, which did not matter much, as we were
already drenched through. It was impossible, with the wet wood, to
make a fire sufficiently hot to dry all our soggy things, for the rain
was still falling. A tapir was seen from our boat, but, as at the
moment we were being whisked round in a complete circle by a
whirlpool, I did not myself see it in time to shoot.

Next morning we went down a kilometre, and then landed on the other
side of the river. The canoes were run down, and the loads carried to
the other side of a little river coming in from the west, which
Colonel Rondon christened Cherrie River. Across this we went on a
bridge consisting of a huge tree felled by Macario, one of our best
men. Here we camped, while Rondon, Lyra, Kermit, and Antonio Correa
explored what was ahead. They were absent until mid-afternoon. Then
they returned with the news that we were among ranges of low
mountains, utterly different in formation from the high plateau region
to which the first rapids, those we had come to on the 2nd of March,
belonged. Through the first range of these mountains the river ran in
a gorge, some three kilometres long, immediately ahead of us. The
ground was so rough and steep that it would be impossible to drag the
canoes over it and difficult enough to carry the loads; and the rapids
were so bad, containing several falls, one of at least ten metres in
height, th