the Virgin that the monkeys might
drop some fruit down, but they went on eating while we gazed at them from
below. We tried to fire at them with the Mauser, but again not a single
cartridge went off. Eventually the monkeys dropped down the empty shells
of the fruit they had eaten. With our ravenous appetite we rushed for
them and with our teeth scraped off the few grains of sweet substance
which remained attached to the inside of the shells. We waited and waited
under that tree for a long time, Filippe now joining also in the prayers.
Each time a shell dropped our palates rejoiced for a few moments at the
infinitesimal taste we got from the discarded shells. It was out of the
question to climb up such a big tree or to cut it down, as we had no
strength left.

We went on until sunset; my men once more having lost heart. Brazilians
lose heart very easily. At the sight of small hills before them, a steep
descent, or a deep river to cross, they would lie down and say they
wanted to remain there and die. Filippe and Benedicto did not carry more
than 20 lb. each of my own baggage, but their hammocks weighed some 20
lb. each, so that their loads weighed altogether about 40 lb.

We went on, crossing five more streamlets that afternoon, of which one, 2
m. wide, had beautifully limpid water. We nevertheless went on, until
eventually after sunset we had to camp near a stream of filthy water. We
did not mind that so much, because, contrary to the popular idea that
while you are starving you require a great deal of water, I found that
during those days of starvation both my men and myself hardly ever
touched water at all. Personally I am accustomed to drink only with my
meals, and as I had no meals at all I never had the slightest wish to
drink. My men, however, who while on the river, for instance, when we had
plenty of food, drank perhaps twenty times a day from the stream, now
that they were starving only seldom touched the water, and when they did,
only in very small quantities. I do not suppose that my men during the
entire period of starvation drank on an average more than a wineglass of
water a day. Personally I know that I never drank more than half a
tumbler or less in the twenty-four hours during that time. Under normal
circumstances I drink about a quart of water a day. The water, I may say,
was plentiful all the time, and, barring a few occasions, such as on that
particular night, most excellent.

As we had now been fo