stood in the way.

A barrier of islands describing a crescent then stood before us, the
largest island of that group being 800 m. wide and several kilometres
long--Belinda Island. I did not measure the exact length of this island,
as we got into great trouble there in some strong rapids, and I had to
leave my notebooks for a moment in order to assist poor Benedicto in
baling out the water so that we could keep afloat.

When our course turned to 10 deg. b.m. we came into full view of a high range
to the north of us which spread from north-west to south-east. The river
had cut its way right through it. We reached a great basin again, 2,000
m. broad like its predecessor, with four beautiful islands abreast, and a
number of other islands varying from 100 to 500 m. in length behind them,
in the centre, while rocks innumerable were scattered about. There was a
rapid once more, with a nasty succession of strong whirlpools formed by
the deviation of the swift waters encountering the many rocks.

[Illustration: The Upper Terrace of the August Waterfall.]

Beyond the rapids we got a full view of the range before us, which
extended from 90 deg. b.m. to 320 deg.. We had hardly recovered from negotiating
those eddies when we were confronted by yet another strong rapid,
impossible to navigate, where we had to let the canoe down by means of
ropes.

The river here was most picturesque, in great straight stretches from
3,000 to 9,000 m. in length. Some 4,000 m. farther down we came to a very
bad rapid. My men were extremely tired of unloading and reloading the
canoe all the time with the heavy baggage which still remained. They
became most ill-tempered when this new rapid appeared before us, blaming
me, as it were, for the rapid being there. I told them that if they did
not care to unload all they had to do was to shoot the rapid. They
quarrelled among themselves. When we got near it my men became terrified.
Alcides, who was at the steering gear, mentioned the fact that we should
all be drowned in a few moments. He became perplexed when we entered the
rapid, which tossed the canoe about in a merciless manner. In one place,
where the water, driven through with great force along a narrow channel,
formed a central wave of great height, the canoe stood up almost
vertically on her stern. Baggage and men all slid down in a heap. The
next thing I saw, when the canoe righted herself, was that we were going
down the rapid sideways and at a r