  Ideal Islands—Immense Figueira Trees—The "Spider Monkey"—Great Variety of Fish in the Arinos—The Rocky Gateway into Diabolical Waters—Shooting Dangerous Rapids—Cutting a Way through the Forest—A Nasty Rapid—Plentiful Fish The night of July 16th was heavy, the thermometer registering a minimum temperature of 62°F. We had great fun fishing during the early hours of the night. In the morning we had hundreds of pounds of fish spread upon the bank of the river, with many excellent specimens of the motimchun fish—so called, I believe, because of its noisy and rebellious habits. The sky was overladen with clouds, and the west showed radiations of light. We had gone 2,500 m. from our camp when we came to a tributary stream on the left side coming from the south. Four thousand four hundred metres farther on, a hill-range 120 ft. high, with heavy forest upon it, encircled a sweeping curve on the left of us to the west and north-west. The cliff of this range, eroded by the river, showed rock of a vivid red right up to its highest point, laminated in perfectly horizontal layers, each 10 ft. thick. Farther on a great basin 350 m. wide and of great beauty had formed. Leading the Canoe down a Rapid by Rope. Leading the Canoe down a Rapid by Rope. Characteristic Rocky Barrier across the Arinos River. Characteristic Rocky Barrier across the Arinos River. (Author's sextant in foreground.) Some 10 kil. beyond a beautiful beach of white sand was noticeable on the left bank. We were always An island—Gabriella Island—200 m. long divided the river into two channels, the larger one of which—200 m. wide—we followed; the other being but 30 m. broad and much strewn with rocks. The river, from the point where we met the sand beach, flowed in a S.S.W. direction for 6,500 m., when it gradually resumed its course northward. The island, thickly wooded, was extremely beautiful, with trees of great size upon it. Quantities of ariranhas were to be found near this island, and they came straight for us with their mouths open, shrieking wildly and snarling and spitting like cats. I was always amazed at their bravery, as they came right on while being shot at by my men, the reports of the rifles enraging them to absolute frenzy. Shortly after we came to another most beautiful, oval-shaped island, 350 m. long—Maude Island—in a basin extending from east to west for a breadth of not less than 500 m. Another island—Vera Island—150 m. long and of an elongated shape, was seen in the same basin. It also had luxuriant vegetation upon it, whereas, curiously enough, the banks on either side of the great basin showed chapada with stunted trees. Farther on, where a small tributary entered the Arinos on the left side, the country seemed quite open beyond the narrow fringe of trees along the water. Another streamlet 3 m. wide flowed into the Arinos from the north-east on the right bank. The main river there was of a width of 400 m. Gorgeous gamelleira or figueira trees (ficus) were to be seen on that island, standing high up upon arches formed by vigorous roots. In a way the lower part of those figueiras resembled a huge octopus, the branches being extremely contorted as they clung to the ground in order to support the weight of the giant tree of which they made part. One could easily walk under the tree among the roots and still have six or eight feet of space left above one's head. As I went round to explore the island while my men were cooking the dinner, I discovered a small lake in the centre of the island—a most poetic spot, with its neat, delightful vegetation all round it reflected as in a mirror in the golden waters which reproduced in a deeper tone the rich sunset tints of the sky above. I sat myself down to look at the beautiful scene. The poetry vanished at once. There were millions of ants which swarmed all over me the moment I sat down upon the ground, and bit me with such fury that I had to remove my clothes in the greatest haste and jump into the water. That raised a cloud of mosquitoes, which made it most uncomfortable for me when I My men killed a beautiful long-armed spider monkey. I was sorry, as I had watched the wonderful jumps of this animal from one tree to another. Using the impetus of the swing which they could obtain from the immense length of their arms, as well as the swing of the branch on which they were hanging, they could fly enormous distances through the air. The span from hand to hand in proportion to the size of the body was really amazing. Luiz Schnoor Island was 450 m. long. Plenty of rubber trees were to be seen on the right bank of the river after passing this great island, especially where the river described a large sweeping curve towards the north-east. Farther on, close to the right bank, an island 100 m. long and 5 ft. high, of yellow sand and gravel, showed brilliantly with its vivid colouring upon the blue waters of the river. For identification' sake I named it Gravel Island on the map I was making of the river. I seemed to be in fairyland—but for the company of my men—as I floated down the stream, there 400 m. wide. We had gone hardly 4 kil. when we came to another ideal island—Margherita Island—400 m. long and 200 m. wide, with magnificent trees upon it. A small stream joined the Arinos on the left side. Lower down stream we had thin forest on both sides, with some remarkable oleo trees, with their minute grey leaves and the branches, laden with red berries, drooping—weeping-willow-like—right down in the water. Next we came to sand and gravel banks with islets The river was at that point flowing in a N.N.E. direction. Then came a long straight line of 6,000 m. of river flowing to 305° b.m. About half-way through this long stretch the stream divided into two large arms, one in direct continuation of the above bearings, the other in a curve, encircling an island 1,000 m. broad. The basin—as still as a lake—in which this island was situated was not less than 1,500 m. across. The island—Charles Landor Island—was 2,000 m. in length. It had plenty of rubber trees upon it, and plenty were to be seen also on the banks. We went some 8 or 10 kil. farther that night, and at five o'clock we halted, having made poor progress that day—only 60 kil. Immense quantities of fish could be seen in the river. No sooner had we made camp than we got out lines and hooks of all sizes, which we baited with pieces of toucinho. One end of the bigger lines we made fast to trees, as the fish we often caught were so powerful that on several occasions they had dragged us into the water and we lost not only the fish but the line as well. We had great sport that night and caught quantities of trahira (Macradon trahira)—not unlike a giant salmon and quite as good to eat; and also some surubim (Platystoma Lima), a large fish belonging to the herring family. The surubim was flat-headed, and not unlike the pintado fish which I have described in a previous chapter. It had thin scales over the body, Although after a few minutes we had killed fish enough to last us—had we been able to preserve it—for some weeks, my men sat up the greater part of the night hauling quantities to the bank. The excitement each time a fish 80 or 100 lb. in weight was hauled out of the water was considerable. The wild yells and exquisite language whenever one of my men was dragged into the water kept me awake the entire night. We left that camp at 7.30 on July 17th, the minimum temperature having been 66° F. during the night. Heavy globular clouds covered the entire sky. We were then in a region extraordinarily rich in rubber; quantities of Siphonia elastica trees were to be seen. It made one's heart bleed to think that nobody was there to collect the riches of that wonderful land. The river flowed in short sections from north-west to north-north-east, barring a long stretch of 4,000 m., when we came to a great basin 600 m. wide, with two large islands in it; the eastern island—Orlando Island—being 100 m. wide, the western—Elizabeth Chimay Island—220 m. broad and not less than 500 m. long. South of both these islands were islets of gravel 50 m. each in diameter. Nine thousand five hundred metres below these islands an important tributary, 8 m. wide, flowed into the Arinos from the right bank. It came from the south-east. Close to the left bank, from which it had Shortly afterwards we came to a big equilateral-triangular island—Armida Island—fully 1 kil. a side. Albert Island, next to it, was of a narrow elongated shape. From the beginning of Armida Island the river flowed for 4,000 m. in a direct line to 310° b.m. Four large rocks in a cluster stood in the centre of the stream at the north-north-westerly end of the island. Then we had another stretch of 4,300 m., during which the river was squeezed through a narrow neck, 100 m. wide, between low rocks. Immediately afterwards we emerged into a bay 800 m. broad, with three islets on one side of it. They were rather dry and somewhat mean-looking. I called them Faith, Hope, and Charity Islands. After that the river was 800 m. wide. A deposit of gravel some 300 m. long was exposed on the right side beyond the last island of the group. Three kilometres farther we halted for an hour or so, just time enough for me to take the latitude and longitude and for our lunch to be cooked. The usual torture had to be endured from the innumerable insects. The heat was also terrible—107° F. in the sun, 93° in the shade. Lat. 11° 23'·9 S.; long. 57° 39' W. When we left, we saw 3,500 m. beyond our halting place, beside a great heap of rocks on the left side of the river, a rivulet, 3 m. wide, entering the Arinos on the left. From that spot the river was contracted from a width of 800 m. to one of only 120 m. Naturally the water was of great depth and the current swift. A tiny rivulet found its way among the rocks on the right side. The channel was much strewn with dangerous submerged rocks. I thought I would take the navigation into my own hands for a little while, and found a comparatively easy channel on the left side of the river close to the bank. As I had expected, the rumbling noise of troubled waters was getting louder and louder, and the whitish mist which rose above the horizon line was an unmistakable sign that we had come to a dangerous spot. Soon after, in fact, we arrived at a large circular basin, some 600 m. in diameter, with rocks in the centre of it. Two clusters of magnificent rocks, 30 ft. high, towered on the left side of the river. Then came We made our way tentatively along what seemed to us the safest channel, to 320° b.m., and with trepidation shot the rapids, which were quite fearsome. I must say for my men that by now they had acquired a certain amount of courage—courage, like all things, being a matter of training after all. We went down at a terrific speed amidst the splashing waters, shaving dangerous rocks and escaping collision by miracle. When we got to the bottom of the rapid we were shot into the whirlpool, which we might have avoided with ease had Alcides obeyed the orders I shouted to him. When I had shot the rapids before in other countries, I had always avoided getting into the centre of the whirlpool; but Alcides, who had never navigated a river before, held the contrary idea, and always insisted on steering the canoe right into the centre of those dangerous rotating waters. Whirlpool at End of Rapid. In Shallow Water. It was sufficient to remonstrate as I did, for Alcides to do a thing over and over again with the persistency of a mule, in order to maintain what he thought was his amour-propre. As it was, on that occasion, the canoe swerved round with such force that she nearly turned over, and got so filled with water that we had to struggle out of the difficulty as best we could and beach her, or she would have sunk. At that point an island 400 m. long and 50 m. wide divided the river into two channels. The western channel had a small island of white sand and many After going 1,800 m. we found a great basin 600 m. wide with a rocky island and barrier right across it. Farther on innumerable rocks of all sizes could be seen on the left bank; and 1,500 m. beyond these, where a solid rock rose in the centre of the stream, eddies of wonderful power were produced in the stream. We glanced at a magnificent island of rock on the left side as we sped along swiftly with the current; but we were so busy with the difficult navigation, and expecting accidents at any moment—what else could I expect with the disobedient, unpractical, obstinate crew I had with me?—that I had not much time to admire the picturesqueness of the scenery. I had quite foreseen that it was impossible to avoid disaster sooner or later, so that all I could do was to think of which would be the best way to minimize its effects, when it did come. In the great circular basin which was formed in the river there was a passage to the west, which I did not like at all, so I ordered my men to follow the passage to the north-east. We met there violent eddies which knocked the canoe about in a most alarming manner soon after we had descended a short rapid of some steepness. Our baggage was simply soaked owing to the amount of water we had shipped on various occasions during the day. We saw ahead of us, only a short distance off, a rapid of some magnitude. We decided to halt at four o'clock in order that we might go and explore on foot along the bank and see whether the I took the accurate elevation of the camp with the hypsometrical apparatus, water boiling at that spot at 210°·4, with the temperature of the air 73° F.; altitude 1,113 ft. above sea level. I also took observations for latitude and longitude: Lat. 11° 17'·5 S.; long. 57° 37' W. We had to remain the entire morning in order to cut a way through the forest and take part of the most valuable baggage on men's backs until a point below the rapids was reached. We named that place Camp Jahu, as we caught there several enormous fish of that name. In a reconnaissance we made we found that from Camp Jahu we had to take the canoe along among innumerable rocks scattered in the only navigable channel on the north side of a basin 700 m. wide, with a large island 350 m. wide—Sarah Island—on the southern side of the bay, and another smaller island almost in the centre of the basin. There was a drop 2 ft. high—a regular step—in a barrier of sharply-pointed rocks. We had some two hours' hard work in order to get the canoe safely down. The rocks were so close together that we could not find a passage large enough for the canoe, and we actually had to pull her out of the water over some rocks and then let her down gently on the other side. After leaving that great pedraria there was a clear We then followed the channel flowing to 350° 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. 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. Fishing on the Arinos: a Jahu. Fishing on the Arinos: a Jahu. Fish of the Arinos River. There was a nasty-looking rapid close to the camp. We had to let the empty canoe down carefully by means of ropes, my men on that particular occasion donning their lifebelts again, although they walked on dry land when they were taking the canoe along. When I asked them why they put them on, they said We left that camp late in the afternoon—at three o'clock—having wasted the entire morning conveying the canoe to a spot of safety and then carrying all the baggage along overland. After having gone some 2 kil. farther we came to another rapid and a pedraria with nasty rocks right across the channel, the only passage I could see possible for our canoe being in the centre of the stream. That channel was only a few metres wide, and had in the centre of it a large rock just under the surface, which flung the water up in the air. We just managed to shoot that rapid safely, although with trembling hearts. Farther down, rocks innumerable, rising only two or three feet above water, spread half-way across the channel from the right side. Then rapids and strong eddies were encountered. For 700 m. the river showed foliated rock strewn all along on both banks, and great volcanic boulders of a more rounded shape. The foliation showed a dip westward of 45°. We were delighted when we discovered in that region many solveira or sorveira trees, or milk trees, exuding when incised milk most delicious to drink. Then there were plenty of figueiras or gameilleiras and wild bananas. We wasted much time extracting milk from the solveiras and eating wild fruit. Monkeys were to be seen in that part. They seemed most astonished on perceiving us, and came quite close, gazing at us in the most inquisitive manner. We felt that we had come to a real heaven on earth, When we returned to the canoe we found obstructions of all kinds in the stream. Small rapid succeeded small rapid. Rocky islets and scattered rocks rendered navigation complicated. Where the river turned sharply to the N.N.E. another dangerous rapid was reached, with rocks scattered all over the channel, some just submerged. We tried to shoot that rapid on the east side, but we got badly stuck on a submerged rock, and once more the canoe filled with water. It took us the best part of an hour to extricate ourselves from our uncomfortable position. A beautiful island 400 m. long and 200 m. wide—Maria Island—was then reached. It had a long spur of white sand at its south-easterly end, and pretty vegetation upon it. Strange domes of rock were near by, one particular dome of great size showing a spit of white sand 70 m. long, on its north-westerly side. Many other islets of rock rose above the water along the bank of the larger island, while rapids of some magnitude existed at the end of the island. We hardly ever came to a stretch of placid water. No sooner had we left the last rapid than, the river turning sharply at that point, we went over a strong corrideira, so strewn with obstacles that in the terrific current we had a narrow escape of having our unmanageable, long canoe smashed against one of the innumerable rocks. As we went on at a great speed I had just time to notice rocks of all sizes and shapes along both banks, and strange rocks in the middle of the river, one or Another island, 300 m. long—Martia Island—with a picturesque spur of rock at its south-easterly end, was next reached as we were going swiftly down a corrideira in the channel to the right which we were following. After the corrideira, as I was busy writing a description of the landscape, I was thrown off my seat. My men also had a similar experience, the canoe nearly turning turtle and becoming filled with water. Alcides had steered us right into the centre of a whirlpool. These unexpected baths were not much to my taste—not so much for the discomfort they caused my person, as for the trouble they gave me in protecting my notebooks and instruments. Also, in these accidents we lost a considerable amount of our supply of salt, which melted away in the water, and the supply of flour and rice suffered from these unnecessary immersions. A channel 30 m. wide separated Martia Island from a second island—Camilla Island—100 m. long, which must once certainly have formed part of it, but which had been separated by the eroding waters of the stream. Both islands were wooded, and were extremely pretty. Great heaps of rock, 20 m. in diameter and even more, occupied the centre of the stream after we had passed the last island. We had only gone 12 kil. 300 m. that day, so difficult had been the navigation. During the night in less than one hour we caught two large jahu, one huge pacu (Prochilodus argentius), We found many jenipapeiros (or genipapeiro) trees, from the stewed bark of which we made excellent tea. Its fruit was good to eat, and we used it for making sweets. During the night of July 19th the minimum temperature was 67° F. We started off gaily enough in the morning, passing first a great boulder, 10 m. in diameter, sticking right out of the water; then an island 200 m. long contained in a basin 500 m. wide. We left the island—Ruby Island—which was 80 m. long, on our left, and went down a channel with strong eddies and whirlpools. Looking back at the eastern channel, we were glad we had not followed it, as it was extremely rocky. A Fine Cataract on the Arinos-Juruena River. A Fine Cataract on the Arinos-Juruena River. The river was contracting in narrow necks and expanding into large basins, another of these being 450 m. broad. A strong rapid existed here, owing to the barrier formed across the stream by a central island of rock and other boulders. After that came a basin 700 m. wide, with three islands—Teffe I., Nair I., Rock I.—in its western part. The central and eastern passages were difficult owing to the quantity of rocks which stood in the way, so we took the canoe down the channel from S.S.W. to N.N.E., which was also extremely bad, and where we had to let her down Our halting place was most picturesque, situated on volcanic rocks of great beauty, and overlooking a canal cut into the rocks, with strong and foaming rapids from east to west. Strong eddies formed at the end of the rapids. After leaving the camp and negotiating the rapids, we came to an island 150 m. long—Magda Island—separated by a rocky narrow channel from another island, 50 m. long, west of it. After the last rapid we were in a basin 800 m. wide and 1,000 m. long. Strong corrideiras or rapids occurred all the time, and rocks alone or in groups standing wherever they were not wanted. Farther on we came to another big basin, 1,000 m. wide, with a square island on its western side. The island—Eva Island—was 400 m. broad and of course of an equal length. Another island, triangular in shape, 700 m. long—Rose Island—was then observed, after we had gone over some strong rapids in the passage on the east side of it. The river was flowing in a northerly direction, and shortly afterwards formed two channels—one north-west, the other south-west—which soon joined again. A beautiful bank of white sand 120 m. long and 4 ft. high stretched along the edge of the water on the left side of us. Soon afterwards we entered an immense One kilometre farther the island ended at a place where a lot of rocks stood out of the water. A little lower down other rocks spread right across the river in two parallel lines, forming very strong rapids, which were shot, our canoe coming within an ace of turning over. The basin which followed was extremely rocky, with strong whirlpools, most troublesome to negotiate. Another island of irregular shape, 200 m. long and 200 m. wide—Rita Island—was found in a large basin, 1,000 m. broad, where we came to strong rapids and violent eddies and whirlpools, the latter most dangerous-looking. The water revolved with such force that it formed in the centre of each vortex holes from one to two feet in diameter. The channel flowing north on the left side of the river seemed the better of the two, but it was strewn with rocks against which we had many collisions, owing to the strong current, the unmanageable canoe and the disobedient crew. Another island 350 m. long—Eloisa Island—was to the north-east of Rita Island. Fifteen hundred metres farther on another corrideira occurred. A small tributary entered the Arinos on the right side. We were then travelling in a N.N.E. direction, the river being in a straight line for some 3,000 m., in the course of which we came to a small island on the left side; then to a great island, 3,000 m. long—Albert Rex Island—with beautiful forest upon it. There were two other islets in this channel, one a mere cluster of rocks, A fourth and fifth—Laeken Island, 300 m. in length, and Elizabeth R. Island, 5,000 m. in length—were separated by a narrow channel. The latter had most gorgeous vegetation upon it; so tidy was everything in the thick forest, and the ground under it so clean that you might have imagined yourself in an English park. Those islands were really too beautiful for words. Not being a poet, I cannot find appropriate language to describe their wonderful charm. The river had a tendency to flow toward the west, and even for 1 kil. in a south-westerly direction. It had a width of 700 m. A small island 50 m. in diameter, chiefly formed of accumulated rounded rocks which had rolled down and deposits of gravel, had formed in the centre of the stream. Beyond it a charming little island, 180 m. long—Germaine Island—was found, on which we made our camp. It had an extensive gravel beach, on which I found beautiful crystals and pebbles of wonderfully coloured marble. |
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