dangers of those rapids, and they
were certainly dangerous because of the innumerable submerged rocks; but
after the fierceness of those we had encountered before they seemed
child's play to us.

The river there followed a direction of b.m. 60 deg..

We spent the night of October 16th-17th at the _seringueiro's_ farm of
Boa Vista, most beautifully situated where the river described a big
curve. In its crudeness the hospitality of those exiles was quite
charming. They hardly ever spoke; they just laid things before you--all
they possessed--and were overcome with surprise when you thanked them for
it or when you offered payment.

There was a project of constructing a cart-road for some 20 kil. along
the bank, in order to avoid the rapids which occurred there in the river.
Although those rapids were not impressive to look at, they were strewn
with submerged rocks just under the surface, which were very dangerous
for the large trading boats. If that road were constructed a great deal
of time would be saved, especially in ascending the river, when sometimes
the trading boats took as long as a week or ten days to get over that
particular rapid.

The first rapid we saw after we left Boa Vista was the Vira Sebo rapid,
slightly worse than the following ones. I was getting a little better,
living on the roof of the trading boat, thoughtfully looked after by Mr.
Joao Pinto and the other employes of Col. Brazil. I was able to drink
quantities of condensed milk, and my strength seemed to be slowly coming
back.

[Illustration: Bolivian Rubber at Abuna Station on the
Madeira-Mamore Railway.]

[Illustration: The Inauguration Train on the Madeira-Mamore Railway.]

The river had many islets as we proceeded on our journey, with wooded
hillocks some 100 to 150 ft. high in long successive undulations along
the river banks. The coast-line was generally of rocky volcanic
formation, with accumulations of boulders in many places right across the
stream.

After passing the rapids we were travelling through a region of extensive
and beautiful sand-beaches, with hardly any rock showing through
anywhere. The country on each side was almost altogether flat, merely an
occasional hill being visible here and there.

On October 19th we came in for a howling storm of wind and rain, waves
being produced in the river as high as those that occur in the sea. We
tossed about considerably and shipped a lot of water. More immense
sand-beaches were