Great Islands--The Trinchão Fish--A Fisherman's Paradise--Alastor
Island--Plentiful Rubber--The Civilized Man's Idea of the
Tropical Forest--The War-Cries of the Indians--Swarms of Bees and
Butterflies
WE had another cool night on July 12th--minimum temperature 47° F. It was
very damp, and in the morning we had, as on the previous day, a thick
mist which prevented our starting until it cleared up, at 7.40 a.m. The
mist rose in columns and square blocks over the warmish water of the
river. The right bank of the Arinos was 40 ft. high.
We had gone some 1,500 m. from our camp when we came to a magnificent
island, 400 m. long and 200 m. wide--Griselda Island--which divided the
stream into two channels.
All the islands we had seen of late showed on the up-stream side a more
or less extensive spit of beautifully coloured gravel and glittering
crystals. The latter shone in the sun with such iridescent luminosity
that it gave those islands a fairy-like appearance.
We encountered troublesome eddies which swung the canoe about, and in one
case actually spun her completely round in a most alarming manner,
tearing out of Alcides' hands the steering gear, which we had some
trouble in recovering.
There were many handsome large-leafed _pacová_, somewhat resembling
banana palms; also quantities of _Siphonia elastica_, although these were
not quite so plentiful as farther south nor the trees so high. A tiny
brook of delicious water descended into the Arinos from the left bank.
Ten thousand five hundred metres farther down from Griselda Island we
came to another island, 300 m. long and 50 m. broad--Negrino Island--with
the usual spit of gravel and beautiful crystals on the south side. This
island was 10 ft. high above the water, with some trees on it, but not
such luxuriant vegetation as on most of the other islands we had seen.
A stream 5 m. wide at the mouth, coming from the N.N.W., entered the
Arinos on the right side. The main river had a direction of 305°
b.m.--that is to say, virtually north-west. Great volcanic slabs of rock
and sand-banks were now reached.
The sun was not extraordinarily hot--90° F. at noon. The country on
either side was open--chiefly _chapada_. Beautiful gravel beaches were
now seen, extending half-way across the river, particularly from the left
side.
Another tributary 5 m. wide coming from the N.N.E. was passed on our
right, and beyond this a thick forest with rubber trees was visible,
while _chapada_ continued on the left.
Round a big basin 200 m. in diameter, containing shallow water from 1 to
6 ft. deep, stood a mass of gigantic trees with verdant healthy foliage,
and innumerable abnormally tall _burity_ palms, over 100 ft. high, and
_tucum_ (_Astrocaryum tucuma_)--also of immense size.
Many huge _trinchão_ fish followed our canoe for some time, gazing
curiously at us. They came so impudently near that my men actually hit
them on the head with their paddles.
One more streamlet entered the Arinos on the right side just before we
reached a big basin, 250 m. in diameter, with wonderful gravel beaches in
regular little mounds stretching half-way across the basin. Another
little tributary (on the right side) came next, 7,000 m. farther down
stream. The vegetation was there so dense and so entangled that we could
find nowhere a suitable spot on which to land for our midday halt. About
noon, however, _chapada_ and open country again appeared on the right
bank for a distance of some 2,000 m.
[Illustration: A Formidable Vortex.]
[Illustration: Going down a Violent Rapid in a Narrow Channel.]
There we indulged in a plentiful lunch, the country round being as still
as death. Not a sign could be seen anywhere of a human being; not a
column of smoke indicating the presence of man rose anywhere in the clear
sky. Nowhere did we meet disturbed vegetation; nowhere did we notice a
trail or a passage through the vegetation coming to the water; nowhere
did we meet abandoned camps or any signs whatever that human beings had
ever lived there. There was no animal life of fair size on the surface;
no parrots, no monkeys, no mammals of any kind--only millions of insects,
which made one's life a burden.
It was not so with the river, which was swarming with innocent fish, only
too ready to be killed and supply us with excellent meals. The reason, of
course, that the river was so full of fish, and that the fish displayed
such delightful simplicity, was because there were there no human
beings.
Soon after leaving camp--all the happier for an excellent lunch--we came
once more to thick, beautiful, clean forest on both sides. Again rubber
was plentiful, and absolutely untouched by the collector's hand. The
river was getting amazingly beautiful, 200 m. wide all along, the water
like a faultless silver mirror irreproachably reflecting each leaf, each
branch of the motionless trees on both banks. There was not a breath of
wind to disturb the tranquillity of that deliciously restful scene.
Yet one more gorgeous island--Alastor Island--300 m. long and 80 to 100
m. wide, was seen. It was preceded on the south-east side by innumerable
gravel mounds just emerging above the water surface, then by a
magnificent gravel beach with numberless beautiful crystals. On the left
bank a tributary 15 m. wide entered the Arinos from the south-west.
The river was getting more and more entrancing at every turn. Profuse
blossoms of the most gorgeous yellow shone resplendent in all their
beauty against the background of dark green foliage. The entire edge of
the forest was festooned with daintily-leafed creepers and with myriads
of convolvuli of the purest amethyst colour.
There was poetry in the scene--frequently disturbed, perhaps, by the
inconceivable oaths of the man to whom was entrusted the heavy task of
baling out the water from the canoe, which leaked badly. She was fissured
from end to end, and we had no effective means of preventing the water
coming in; in fact, if the baling were not done quickly and continuously
with a bucket, the water soon gained and reached the platform on which
we had placed the baggage. Our feet, of course, were in water all day
long. We did not mind that so much. In fact, our feet got so soaked with
moisture that we could peel off the skin in big patches with the greatest
ease.
After travelling across a basin 250 m. broad, we came to a _corrideira_
with shallow water. We dashed with great speed sideways over a bank of
gravel, and nearly turned turtle. The gravel was banked up against the
lee side of the canoe, and with a strong current pushing her we had the
greatest trouble to pull her off again.
There was a great deal of rubber, particularly on the left bank, while on
the right, _chapada_ was again observed. The river was so wonderfully
tidy that, had it not been for its great breadth, one would have felt as
if going through a watercourse in England.
From the east came a little tributary, 2 m. wide, on the right bank.
Another beautiful island, 500 m. long and 80 m. wide--Helena Island--a
most enchanting place, preceded by the usual gravel mounds and beach, was
passed in the afternoon. Small streamlets entered the main stream, one on
each side--one 6 kils. beyond Helena Island, the other one a little
farther.
The river maintained its average width of 200 m. nearly all the time.
Late in the afternoon we passed on the left bank a hill 120 ft. high,
belonging to a range that extended from E.S.E. to W.N.W. at an angle to
the river, which there flowed in a direction almost north. There was
plenty of rubber of excellent quality near the water.
Shortly after leaving this range we came to a lagoon, then to open
campos behind a thin row of stunted trees on the left bank. The lagoon
was situated at a point where the river described a curve from north to
70° b.m. Two small streamlets entered the Arinos on the right. We made
camp near a small lagoon in the forest shortly after sunset.
The distance we had travelled during the last two days was 86 kil. 900 m.
on July 11th, and 76 kil. 600 m. on July 12th, or altogether 163 kil. 500
m.
To anybody accustomed to travelling in equatorial countries it seems
amazing, on returning to civilization, to find what curious notions
people have of the tropical forest. Even in the case of writers of
distinction I could quote many passages which are painfully ridiculous.
One of the greatest modern Italian writers, for instance--who, by the
way, in one of his latest novels, copied almost word for word many pages
from my books--added the poetic touch that in the tropical forest flowers
were found so large that they could not be picked, and fruit so enormous
that no human tooth could bite it! Again, the majority of people believe
that it is impossible to go through the forest without cutting your way
all the time--the "cutting a way through" meaning to most people the
constant chopping down of trees of all sizes, undergrowth, bamboos,
_liane_, and other creepers. As a matter of fact, any experienced
traveller has much less trouble in going through the forest than people
imagine. This is not the case with people unacquainted with the forest,
or with people whose sense of observation is not much developed. One can
go sometimes for miles through the dense forest without once using knives
at all; although necessarily a knife must be carried, as there are
places where a cut from its blade will make passing through more
comfortable. This is particularly true of the Brazilian forest. The
forests of that country, especially in the central region where I was
then travelling, were wonderfully clean, when once you entered them,
although, when seen from the river, they appeared impenetrable. Near the
water, owing to the moisture, there was frequently a thick but narrow
belt--only a few metres wide--of dense growth. Beyond it, when you were
in the forest itself, nothing grew under the trees, and the ground was
just as clean as the best kept English park. One could walk in comfort
without the slightest trouble, an occasional well-applied blow with the
heavy-bladed knife disentangling in a second an interfering _liana_ which
might stand in one's way.
It must not be forgotten that you can get under or over _liane_, or shift
them on one side, without ever having the trouble of severing them. It is
only occasionally, when they are entangled, that it saves time to cut
them. Barring an occasional thick belt along the Amazon River, it is
almost safe to assert that an experienced man can travel, alone, anywhere
in the forests of Brazil without carrying a penknife. This is not the
case, of course, when you are travelling with a caravan and with baggage,
when a sufficiently large passage has to be opened.
In Africa the equatorial forests are incomparably more difficult to
traverse than the Brazilian forests, and those who assert the Brazilian
forests to be impenetrable only say so because they do not know what
they are talking about. Even when it comes to actually chopping down
trees in the Brazilian forests, one blow with the axe or with the knife
will easily cut down a fair-sized tree. As I have already stated
elsewhere, most of the Brazilian forest trees have no resistance
whatever. They are full of water, and, with a judicious blow, can be cut
almost as easily as celery. Many are the trees also, the inside of which
near the ground has been eaten up entirely by ants, and it was not
uncommon when you leant heavily against a tree that you and the tree
tumbled down. Ants do not seem to attack lactiferous trees, such as those
producing rubber, which therefore flourished in that particular region.
Most of the trees in that particular part of the forest were small in
diameter, and only had branches or leaves at a very great height. That
was why the forests in Brazil looked so extraordinarily clean beneath, in
contrast to the equatorial forest in such countries as Central Africa or
the Philippine Islands. The wonderful cleanliness of the river, to which
I have so often alluded, was a great contrast to the masses of floating
decomposing vegetation which is always to be seen in the African rivers.
The minimum temperature during the night of July 13th was 51° Fahr.
During that night we were suddenly roused by our dogs barking furiously.
We heard strange noises, as if people were trying to run away quickly
through the forest. Indians had, much to our surprise, come quite close
to our camp, and had it not been for the alarm given by the dogs we
should most likely have been attacked by them. In the morning we heard
in the distance their war-cries and piercing ululations, which rent the
air. Judging merely by the noise they made, there must have been from
thirty to fifty of them. My men were greatly excited over this
experience. These Indians belonged, I think, to the Tapanhonas tribe.
We left our camp at 7.45 in the morning. As the river was there in an
almost straight line for 8 kil., we continued hearing--more and more
faintly, of course, as we went on--for some distance the excited yells of
the Indians.
The left bank, through which a streamlet cut its way into the Arinos, was
fairly open with _chapada_. An island, 150 m. wide and 200 m. long--Julia
Island--was next seen. It had an extensive beach of gravel at its
southern end, and the island itself was covered with dense and very
beautiful vegetation. Another streamlet 1 m. wide entered the Arinos
opposite the island from the left side. Farther on another streamlet, 3
m. wide at the mouth, and coming from the north, flowed into the main
stream on the right side. Three and a half kilometres farther another
tributary streamlet, also 3 m. wide, was met on the right. We there saw
_chapada_ on both banks as we went along, with merely a thin edge of
trees along the river.
Where the river described a graceful elbow, a charming tongue of land,
with deliciously green grass upon it, was most refreshing to the eyes. A
river 8 m. wide at the mouth was met a little way beyond on the left
side. We noticed opposite that place a beautiful spot for making a camp,
but it was not a convenient hour for us, and so we went along.
About 1,500 m. farther down a long narrow island (200 m. long, 80 m.
wide)--Gemma Island--heavily wooded, was passed and admired. It had the
usual gravel spit on its southern or up-stream point, the river in that
particular spot flowing due north in a perfectly straight line for 4,000
m. The island stood in the centre of a basin 200 m. broad. There were
_campos_ and _chapada_ on the left bank.
We landed on the island, and found most beautifully clean forest, nice
and cool in the greenish dim light which penetrated through the dense
masses of foliage. Particularly noticeable for their beauty were the
handsome large mimosas.
On the right bank of the river was forest with plenty of rubber trees,
but occasionally even on that side patches of what the Brazilians call
_serradão_ (close forest) were met with.
A hill range 120 ft. high formed a crescent from west to north-west on
the left side of the stream. A kilometre and a half farther forest was to
be seen on the left side of the river; whereas on the right was _chapada_
and _campos_, quite open. A picturesque rocky island, 15 m. in diameter,
in laminated horizontal and rich brown volcanic rock, rose 3 ft. above
the water in the centre of the stream. From that spot for 2 kil. I
noticed _chapada_ on the right bank; then after that was beautiful dense
forest on both sides, with innumerable vigorous rubber trees.
The river there was 200 m. wide and had shallow water with strong
_corrideiras_ over enormous parallel transverse dunes of sand and gravel
which formed the bottom. Islets of gravel were exposed, especially near
the left bank and in the centre, leaving only a more or less navigable
channel near the right bank.
We ran aground many a time along the 500 m. of shallow water, varying
from 6 in. to 3 ft. deep. We emerged into a large basin 300 m. wide where
eddies of no great strength were formed. On the edge of the beautiful
basin we halted for our lunch, and to take the usual astronomical
observations at local noon. We were in lat. 12° 26'·5 S.; long. 56° 47'
W.
I do not know if I have ever seen such swarms of bees and butterflies as
I saw at that place. They seemed to swoop down upon us in myriads from
all sides. Taking the solar observations with the sextant and artificial
horizon, I endured positive torture with the hundreds of bees which
settled on my forehead, nose and hands; while thousands of mosquitoes and
ants stung my legs, arms and face in those spots where it was not
possible to wrap myself up with towels.
It will be noticed in most of the photographs which were taken along the
river, and some of which illustrate this book, that all my men have their
heads wrapped up. This was done as a protection against the tantalizing
insects. The temperature was warm; that day, for instance, was 105° F. in
the sun and 86° in the shade.
We left again at 1.15, my men being--for a change--in a good mood, owing
to the amusing time we always had fishing. We had been making excellent
progress during the last two or three days. The strange man X enlivened
our journey with diabolical songs and with crude wit, which sent his
companions into fits of laughter. When they were in a merry mood or
excited, I noticed that they paddled along much quicker and better, so I
did not try to put a check to the abominable language which would have
jarred the feelings of any one not born and bred in the interior of
Brazil.
It was quite interesting to me to find in that region so much _chapada_
and open country, as I had fully expected to find thick forest all along.
What struck me particularly on the Arinos, and which I could not very
well explain, was that nearly invariably, when you had thick forest on
one side of the stream, you had open country on the other, and only
seldom noticed either forest or campos on both sides of the stream at the
same time.
After passing _chapada_ on the left bank we came to a great many rocks
just above water. A river 3 m. wide entered the Arinos on the right side,
and there was to be seen an immense quantity of beautiful rubber
trees--as yet untouched by human being. The river kept its width of 200
m. After going along _chapada_ on the left bank for some 3 kil., we came
to magnificent forest--this time on both sides--with a luxuriant growth
of rubber trees.
The scene, in its wonderful quietude, was most impressive. It made one's
heart bleed to think that such rich land should lie unknown and
unexploited in these enlightened and enterprising days of the twentieth
century.
The sky above us was always interesting, with its typical filaments of
mist, their lengthy radiations faintly marked upon the vivid blue of the
sky vault and making a centre in the north. These radiations were in
appearance not unlike giant ostrich feathers. They were formed, I think,
over the great streams which flowed northwards into the Amazon.
We were troubled that day with numerous eddies and shallow water, owing
to the great width of the river. Innumerable mounds of gravel rose in the
centre of the stream up to a few inches below the water level.
Another hill range, 100 ft. high, met that day was crescent-shaped, the
arc of a circle thus described being from south-east by east to
north-east.
The hill range on the north-east side of us was eroded, exposing a red
vertical wall 60 ft. high. A small river 2 m. wide coming from the east
entered the Arinos on the right bank.
For 3,500 m. from that point the stream had an average width of 250 m.,
and was really magnificent with the wonderful cleanliness of the
water--not the slightest impurity, not a speck of wood or a leaf floating
upon its surface.
Fourteen kilometres of heavenly navigation--barring X's language and the
comments of his companions--and we came to an ideal triangular island,
1,200 m. long, 200 m. wide at its broadest point, with the usual
extensive gravel spit at its southern end--Victor Emmanuel Island. The
vegetation upon it was too gorgeous for words, but there was no animal
life except insects.
Four kilometres farther a basin 300 m. in diameter and from 1 to 6 ft.
deep was crossed, in which a strong _corrideira_ was met. The navigable
channel was in the centre of the basin. A stream 10 m. wide, of most
beautiful crystalline water, which had its origin from the south-west,
threw itself into the Arinos on the left side, some 2,000 m. below the
basin.
From this point for 8 kil. the river flowed with a slight deviation of
10° in a northerly direction. The left bank of the river was now quite
open, with patches of _chapada_ and somewhat taller but still stunted
vegetation beyond; a thin row of tall trees lined the river side. On the
right bank was luxuriant forest, and again plenty of beautiful rubber
trees. Two islets of gravel were next seen.
We were experiencing great difficulty in getting suitable camping places
at the right time when we needed them. By 4.30, having come across a spot
which seemed suitable, we halted, having gone that day 85 kil. 700 m.