nd all. A moment later all three of us were seized
with vomiting, so that the meagre meal was worse than nothing to us.

We were then in a region of innumerable liane, which hung from the trees
and caught our feet and heads, and wound themselves round us when we
tried to shift them from their position. Nearly all the trees in that
part had long and powerful spikes. Then near water there were huge palms
close together, the sharp-edged leaves of which cut our hands, faces and
legs as we pushed our way through.

A violent storm broke out in the afternoon. The rain was torrential,
making our march extremely difficult. It was just like marching under a
heavy shower-bath. The rain lasted for some three hours. We crossed one
large stream flowing west into the Secundury, and also two other
good-sized streamlets.

We had a miserable night, drenched as we were and unable to light a fire,
the box of matches having got wet and the entire forest being soaked by
the torrential storm. During the night another storm arrived and poured
regular buckets of water upon us.

On September 12th we drowsily got up from our hammocks in a dejected
state. By that time we had lost all hope of finding food, and no longer
took the trouble to look round for anything to eat. We went on a few
hundred metres at a time, now Benedicto fainting from exhaustion, then
Filippe, then myself. While one or another was unconscious much time was
wasted. Marching under those conditions was horrible, as either one or
other of us collapsed every few hundred metres.

Another violent storm broke out, and we all lay on the ground helpless,
the skin of our hands and feet getting shrivelled up with the moisture.

My feet were much swollen owing to the innumerable thorns which had got
into them while walking barefooted. It was most painful to march, as I
was not accustomed to walk without shoes.

We went only ten kilometres on September 12th. We crossed two small
rivers and one large, flowing west and south, evidently into the
Secundury.

On September 13th we had another painful march, my men struggling along,
stumbling and falling every little while. They were dreadfully depressed.
Towards the evening we came to a big tree, at the foot of which we found
some discarded shells, such as we had once seen before, of fruit eaten by
monkeys. My men and I tried to scrape with our teeth some of the sweet
substance which still adhered to the shells. We saw some of the fruit,