iage, which made photography rather difficult. As I was trying to get
a second photograph my men proceeded with their knives to open the snake
and see what was inside. The terrific odour which ensued when they did so
made us violently ill, causing desperate vomiting. I have seen it stated,
in some books which have been published about South America, that snakes
of incredible length are believed to exist on that continent. Undoubtedly
the notion has been suggested by the fact that inexperienced travellers
have seen immensely broad traces of snakes along the soft ground near
rivers. Measuring the diameter of those trails they came to the
conclusion that the snake was 80 to 100 ft. long, and without taking
further trouble to ascertain they stated they had actually seen a snake
of that length. Whereas, as a matter of fact, as in the case I have
described, the immense diameter of the snake was merely in the section
which enclosed some big animal which had been swallowed.

[Illustration: An Easy Rapid.]

[Illustration: Going through a Narrow Channel.]

CHAPTER XI

A Family of _Ariranhas_--Attacked by them--Three Nasty
Rapids--Beautiful Sand Beaches--Exciting Experiences--Going down
a Thundering Cataract--Alcides' Narrow Escape--A Night's Work in
the Midst of a Foaming Rapid in order to rescue the
half-submerged Canoe--Filippe's Courage--Visited by a Snake 20
ft. long

WE camped some hundred metres away from the spot where we had killed the
_sucuriu_. It was getting late. My men did not sleep a wink the whole
night, as they thought perhaps the mate of the snake might come and pay
us a visit. We had a lively time the entire night, as we had made our
camp over the home of a family of _ariranhas_. They had their young in a
small grotto in the bank, and we heard them all night squealing for their
mothers, who were grinding their teeth and shrieking furiously a little
way off from the bank, not daring to enter their homes while we were
near. They were, I think, more frightened of the fire which my men had
made than they were of us. There were twenty or thirty of them, and they
made so much noise during the night that it was quite out of the question
to rest. The vegetation was very thick, the damp considerable, and the
air quite stifling, with a minimum temperature of 60 deg. F. Occasionally,
when the air moved at all, we could smell our friend the dissected
_sucuriu_.

We were glad to l