ars were simply magnificent in brilliancy as I lay on my camp-bed.
One particularly, to 290 deg. b.m. N.W.--the planet Venus--was
extraordinarily brilliant, appearing six times as big as any other planet
visible that night. It threw off radiations of wonderful luminosity,
quite strong enough to illuminate with a whitish light a great circular
surface of the sky around it.

In the morning, before we left, Alcides--who loved carving names and
inscriptions on every tree and stone--duly incised the name of Antonio
Prado, with which I baptized the island in honour of the greatest
Brazilian living, upon a giant _figueira_ tree on the southern edge of
the extensive beach of sand and gravel.

CHAPTER IX

Dogs--Macaws--Crocodiles--A Serious Accident--Men flung into a
Whirlpool--The Loss of Provisions and Valuable Baggage--More
Dangerous Rapids--Wonderful Scenery--Dangerous Work--On the Edge
of a Waterfall--A Risky Experience--Bravery of Author's Brazilian
Followers--A High Wind from the North-East--A Big Lake

THE night was heavy and damp. All our things were soaked in the morning
with the dew which had fallen. We were enveloped in a thick mist when we
woke up. It became a dense fog when the sun rose, and did not clear up
until the sun was fairly high above the horizon. The minimum temperature
during the night had been 62 deg. F. (July 22nd).

We were unable to leave until eight o'clock, as the river was dangerous
enough when we could see where we were going, and it would have been
rather foolish to add one more risk to our travelling in the fog.

My men were extremely irritable and morose that morning, and even our
dogs were most troublesome. We had had a great deal of trouble with the
dogs; they were as disobedient and untrainable as the men. Nearly every
morning we had to waste a considerable time in getting the animals back
into the canoe. When we were ready to start they generally dashed away
into the forest and the men had to go and fetch them and bring them
back. That particular morning one dog--the best we had--escaped, and my
men searched for more than an hour, but were unable to find him. In
trying to run after him they got their feet full of thorns, and they
became so enraged that they decided to abandon the dog on the island. I
called him for more than half an hour, trying to save his life, but the
animal refused to come. So, much to my sorrow, we had to pull out without
him, an