ery turn. I
should have enjoyed the journey very much had it not been for the
constant attention I had to pay to my men, who left their paddles and
steering gear at every moment in order to fire recklessly at birds or
_ariranhas_ or _capivaras_, much to the danger of everybody on board.
They would blaze away with their repeating rifles--and bullet cartridges,
of course--at parrots and even _colibri_ birds 100 or 200 metres off.
They said the rifles were bad because they could never hit anything! I
had ceased scolding them. They made me positively ill with pity, I was
only praying for our supply of cartridges to come to an end soon, so that
if we were to die at all it might not be through being pierced by one of
our own bullets.

The river had been flowing, with slight deviations, northwards.

We came to an enchanting island 70 m. wide, with thick vegetation upon it
and fine rocks.

The river in that portion flowed practically north in great stretches of
6,000 and 4,000 m. Another large and beautiful island, 250 m. long and 70
wide--Ghislaine Island--was passed, and we admired the gorgeous
vegetation upon it.

Below the island the river was 100 m. wide and very shallow--not more
than from 1 to 4 ft. in depth. We halted at sunset, having gone that day
92 kil. 300 m.

During the night of July 11th my men suffered a great deal from cold, the
thermometer being as low as 45 deg. Fahrenheit. In the morning there was a
thick fog over the river--so thick that we had to delay our departure
until eight o'clock, as we could not see more than two or three metres
ahead.

Two kilometres beyond we came to a rivulet, 2 m. wide, on the left bank,
and soon after to a small _corrideira_ with a navigable channel in the
centre. Three hundred metres farther down we passed another tributary on
the right bank. There was open country with sparse stunted trees on the
left of us, thick forest with plenty of rubber trees on the right. I
noticed several good specimens of the _pao dolce_--a tree with a curious
cluster of yellow flowers not unlike the flower of wistaria upside down.
Not only was the _pao dolce_ pretty to look at, but a most refreshing
beverage could be made from a decoction of its leaves.

The course of the river was winding, with basins and rapids of no great
importance. Another tributary 2 m. wide was reached on the left bank, and
soon after another tiny streamlet entered the Arinos from the same side.

I had a narrow esca