We had all the trouble of dragging the canoe
back up the rapid until we could turn her round into another channel.

We arrived at the waterfall of S. Simao, where we went through numerous
channels, following the right bank as much as we could, until we arrived
at a gigantic staircase of rock, down which the water divided itself into
little channels. We took all the baggage over the rocks on the right
bank--a very heavy task, as we had to climb up and down big boulders with
sharp edges. We slipped many times with the loads we were carrying, and
many, indeed, were the patches of skin we left behind in that particular
place. We had a great deal of trouble in finding a place where we could
take the canoe down. Eventually we had to go right across the stream over
the waterfall and land on an island of rock in the centre of the river,
where I had seen with my telescope that we might perhaps find a suitable
passage for the canoe.

Crossing the river diagonally just above the fall was risky work, and
although we described a big arc up the stream, we only just managed to
make the island before we were borne down by the current.

The horseshoe-shaped waterfall was about 300 m. across and some 30 ft.
high. When the river is full it must be beautiful, for the east side,
which was then absolutely dry, is covered entirely by water, which must
form a wonderful series of cascades. When the river is in flood, the
waterfall, extending from north-west to south-east, has a total width of
1,000 m. There were some picturesque bits of rugged foliated rock over
that great staircase, and huge cracks through which the water gurgled and
foamed--those fissures formed not by the erosion of water but by volcanic
action, perhaps by an earthquake. The large fall to the north-west, over
which the water flows in every season, had on one side of it a steep
incline, down which we took the canoe until we came to a drop about 15
ft. high.

We halted for the night just above that high drop, spending a most
miserable night, being simply devoured by insects. The minimum
temperature during the night of August 15th was 72 deg. F.

My men were in a beastly temper in the morning, when we had to proceed,
as on previous occasions, to make an artificial channel by moving
innumerable boulders of all sizes. It was a heavy task, for we hardly had
any strength left, our meals having been most irregular of late.

A channel was not so easily made in that particular sp