nnel flowing to 350 deg. b.m., and after passing
innumerable rocks made our camp again before coming to a large rapid
which we heard rumbling in that direction.

We had worked hard all that day, and all the progress we had made by
sunset was a distance of 2,000 m.--or a little more than one mile.

Alcides, Antonio and I immediately proceeded to cut a trail through the
forest from that point down to the end of the rapid, 1,200 m. farther
down. Then we proceeded to take all the baggage upon our shoulders--a
task which occupied several hours. I was greatly surprised to find that
the men did this willingly enough, although they were unaccustomed to
carrying and the loads were heavy. They laughed heartily at one another
as they struggled under the heavy weights, or trod upon thorns, or were
jerked about with knocking against trees--the passage we had cut being
necessarily not spacious.

I had not seen my men so jolly for a long time--in fact, I do not
remember ever having seen them so jolly. I was in hopes that this state
of affairs might last, as it was certainly not pleasant to be travelling
in such usually morose company.

During the night we caught an immense jahu, weighing over 50 lb., as well
as some 200 lb. of smaller fish. As the bank of the stream was rather
high and steep, we had a great deal of trouble to land the larger fish
safely. Some of my men had exciting experiences, one man falling into the
water on receiving a powerful blow from the tail of the struggling jahu.
The scene was a comic one, the terror of the man being amusing to watch.

We carried a great quantity of salt; with it my men set out to preserve
the best portions of the fish we had caught--a precaution of which I
fully approved.

I noticed that whenever we came across rocky places the number of insects
increased to an enormous extent, especially mosquitoes and gnats. I think
it was due principally to the fact that in those rocks many cavities were
found which got filled with stagnant water which eventually became
putrefied.

The place where we halted we called Abelha Camp, because of the millions
of bees which worried us to death there, not to speak of the swarms of
flies, mosquitoes and ants, and myriads of butterflies which came to
settle in swarms upon us. It was indeed curious to note the wonderful
tameness of the latter, as they had never seen a human being before.

[Illustration: Fishing on the Arinos: a Jahu.]

[Illustration: Fis