The Point of Junction of the Arinos and Juruena Rivers--Elfrida
Landor Island--Terrible Days of Navigation--Immense Islands--An
Old Indian Camp--A Fight between a Dog and an _Ariranha_--George
Rex Island--A Huge _Sucuriú_ Snake
THE spot where the two great rivers met was most impressive, especially
from the island on which we stood, directly opposite the entrance of the
two streams. The immense lake was spread before us, and beyond were the
two great rivers meeting at an angle. Great walls of verdant forest lined
all the banks and islands before us. Curiously enough, both in the Arinos
and in the Juruena two long narrow islands appeared parallel to the banks
of each stream. The islands resembled each other in size. The Juruena had
two islands near its mouth, one narrow and long, the other in the shape
of a quadrangle. The Arinos also showed a long and narrow island at its
mouth, and another ending in a point.
It was my intention to take soundings right across the mouth of the
Arinos and also across the mouth of the Juruena, but unluckily, owing to
the strong easterly wind which prevailed that day, it was quite
impossible for me to attempt such a task at the mouth of the Arinos, and
equally impossible was it to proceed back across the lake to the mouth of
the Juruena to measure the volume of water which came out of that river.
Without any attempt at mathematical accuracy I should say that the two
rivers carried an almost equal volume of water.
Where we landed there were two separate islands, one of which I named
after my sister--the Elfrida Landor Island; the other one, next to it, I
named Francesco Island. The Elfrida Landor Island--really most beautiful
to look at--was 800 m. long; Francesco Island was 1,200 m. in length but
not quite so broad.
There was a most picturesque channel 200 m. wide, with marvellous rocks
forming a barrier across it, on the right side of the river, between
Francesco Island and the right bank. The main part of the stream,
however, flowed in a much larger channel between the left bank and
Elfrida Landor Island.
The joint Arinos-Juruena River had now a total width of 500 m., and
flowed in a direction of 15° bearings magnetic. I took accurate
observations with the hypsometrical apparatus in order to determine the
exact elevation of that important spot: water boiled at the junction of
the Juruena and Arinos at 210°·4¾, while the temperature of the air was
70° F.; in other words the elevation of the place was 987 ft. above the
sea level.
[Illustration: Author's Canoe going down a Cataract.]
I also took observations there for latitude and longitude. Lat. 10° 21'·7
S.; long. 58° 35' W. The Juruena entered the lake from bearings magnetic
250° (W.S.W.), the Arinos from bearings magnetic 100° (E.S.E.). The
minimum temperature during the night on Elfrida Island was 57° F. My men
suffered a great deal from the cold, as they had got badly chilled
with the wet and the high wind during the day. Most of them complained of
severe rheumatic pains and violent toothache. They could not understand
why I did not have any pains of any kind--and to tell the truth, neither
could I, after all we had gone through of late.
When we left Elfrida Landor Island on July 25th we had a beautiful
stretch of river 4,000 m. long in a straight line, but with a good many
rocks strewn in the channel. The men paddled unwillingly, as they said
they were aching all over; but the current was strong and we were going
along fairly quickly. My men said that we must now have come to the end
of all the rapids. I did not care to disillusion them, although I
suspected that we still had hard days in store. We had not proceeded very
far when a rumbling noise warned us that we were approaching danger.
There was a rapid on the east side of the river, but it left a fairly
easy passage on the west. A little farther, however, we came to a very
bad rapid, and had to unload the canoe, which we were obliged to let down
carefully with ropes. My men, who felt feverish and irritable, owing to
our previous day's experience, were greatly upset at this new obstacle
facing us.
The river was 500 m. wide at this part. The rocks on which we trod when
we took the canoe down were so sharp that they cut our feet. It was not
possible to wear shoes, as when we had them on we slipped on the rock and
had no hold upon the ropes. My men, in their state of weakness, had not
sufficient strength to hold the canoe, and the moment she entered the
swift current she escaped, dragging one man into the rapid. I jumped into
the water after him, and just managed to grab him before he was swept
away altogether in the terrific current. We were all drenched, and as the
wind blew with great violence that day, and there was no sun to warm us
up, we felt the cold very much.
The canoe was thrown mercilessly now against one rock, then against
another; but, as luck would have it, after she had made several
pirouettes, we, running all the time with our bleeding feet on the sharp
rocks along the bank, were eventually able to recapture her at the end of
the rapid. Then came the job of going back to fetch all the baggage and
bring it down, baling the water out of the canoe, and starting off once
more.
My men were tired; they said they could stand the work no more, and they
wanted to remain there and die. It took much persuasion to make them come
on. I succeeded principally by giving them a good example, carrying down
most of the loads that day myself from the upper end of the rapid to the
lower--a distance of several hundred metres. I was getting tired, too, of
carrying the heavy loads, but I never let my men see it; that would have
been fatal.
The river was divided into two channels by a group of islands which must
at one time have been one great triangular one, subsequently worn by
parallel and transverse channels into seven islands. The first, most
southerly, was 300 m. broad, 150 m. long, and of a triangular shape. The
three immediately behind this, and of irregular shapes, had an average
length of some 700 m.; whereas the last group of three, all of elongated
shapes, had a length of 300 m. each. I was getting to the end of the list
of names for all those islands, and I was at a loss to find seven names
all of a sudden, so I called the group the Seven Sisters Islands. At the
end of the group the river narrowed to 400 m. in width between a long
island to the west and the right bank, and flowed due north for 12,000 m.
in a direct line--indeed a most beautiful sight. Fifteen hundred metres
down that distance a great barrier of columnar or cylindrical rocks stuck
out of the water from W.S.W. to E.N.E. North of those rocks on the left
side, upon the island, not less than 5,000 m. long--Lunghissima
Island--was a beautiful yellow sand beach 200 m. long, which formed a
separate islet with trees upon its northerly half. Numerous rocks
obstructed the east side (right) of the river.
Farther on, another lovely sandy islet 100 m. long had formed behind a
number of rocks, and was of a clean, beautiful yellowish white, with a
few shrubs and trees growing upon it. All those sand beaches were
extremely interesting to me. I invariably landed upon them. I had made a
wonderful collection of all the minute plants and delightful miniature
flowers which grew upon these beaches--an immense variety, indeed, but of
such small dimensions and of such delicate tints that it required
sometimes a great strain of eyesight to see them at all. Some were really
most beautiful. I spent a good deal of time and patience in collecting,
pressing, and classifying those dainty little sand-plants, and I was
beginning to flatter myself that I had formed a complete collection.
At the spot where Lunghissima Island came to an end a large triangular
island was to be seen on the left of us. A great barrier of rocks
stretched across the stream, a prominent cluster of picturesque boulders
forming a powerful spur which cut the current at the southern part of the
triangle of land.
Although the thermometer marked 93° in the sun my men complained of the
intense cold, partly because they all had fever, partly also because the
wind was extremely strong that day and caused waves of some size in the
stream, which dashed against the canoe and splashed us all over. Again my
men were seasick that day, and got furious with me as I could not help
laughing at their plight.
With a slight deviation of 20° to the west came another stretch of 4,000
m. in a straight line. A two-humped range of hills now loomed before us
to the north-west. We had gone along the side of another elongated island
8,000 metres in length--Yolanda Island. When we came to the end of this
great island, two other islands parallel to each other were disclosed to
the west of us, one 1,000 m. long--Carmela Island--the other 600
m.--Stella Island. The first had a pretty island 300 m. long--Hilda
Island--next to it on the east side. We halted at the end of Yolanda
Island and there took observations for latitude and longitude, thirty-one
consecutive sights of the sun being taken. Lat. 10° 13'·3 S; long. 58°
35' W.
[Illustration: The Immense Waves encountered by Author in emerging
from the Channel in the Rapid of the Inferno.
(The canoe with its occupants shot up vertically in the air.)]
When we resumed our journey four more islets were visible and a barrier
of rock from north-west to south-east again stretching right across the
stream. Just beyond lay Romola Island, 1,200 m. long and equally broad.
At the end of the island we found a channel 100 m. wide, separating it
from two neighbours on the east; in fact, much to my dismay, we found
ourselves in a regular maze of islands and rocks, and my time was fully
employed keeping an account of and measuring them.
A crescent-shaped island--Urania Island--1,000 m. in length, with most
wonderful vegetation upon it, was now on our left. That region was
extraordinarily rich in rubber. The channel which we had followed was
strewn all over with rocks. Another island, 400 m. long--Caterina
Island--followed. The current in the Arinos-Juruena River had a speed of
80 m. a minute. The river in places where no islands lay had a width of
200 m. The water was most beautifully clear, of a lovely emerald green,
with a wonderful white sand bottom clearly visible although the river had
considerable depth in many places. Yet another island, 600 m. long--Una
Island--came in sight to the right of us; then another between two
companions, forming almost a circle round the central isle. The river now
formed a basin not less than 800 m. wide with innumerable rocks at the
entrance. We went on kilometre after kilometre, spending our time in
avoiding unpleasant rocks, when again we came first to fairly strong
rapids, then to an extremely dangerous rapid, which we shot, as we were
carried away into it before we had time to realize where we were. We had
the greatest difficulty in extricating ourselves from the many terrifying
whirlpools at the end of the rapid, in a great basin 900 m. wide. We
found a most beautiful halting place on a natural terrace of volcanic
rock some 20 ft. above the river, with a dome of rock in the centre.
I met signs of Indians close to the river. Evidently a tribe had once
halted there, but apparently many years before our arrival. I discovered
their fireplaces, several carved pieces of wood, and some fragments of
rudimentary pottery in the neighbourhood of this picturesque spot. In
exploring round the place I also found some almost entirely obliterated
indications of several ancient trails which had been made by the Indians
in the forest.
Looking toward bearings magnetic 340°, and also in the opposite direction
to the south, most gorgeous river scenes were before us. This was by far
the most beautiful spot I had come across on the river so far. I
therefore named the huge island on which I stood George Rex Island. I
gave Alcides orders to carve the name on a tree, but as he was an
anarchist he refused to do it, excusing himself by saying that he had
injured his hand.
At that camp we caught over 400 lb. of fish in less than half an
hour--three _jahus_ among the number, each weighing over 40 lb. Then we
also captured two _cachorra_ or dog fish, which possessed vicious-looking
molars of great length, not unlike those of a big dog. Each of these fish
weighed over 30 lb. Then we got eight _trahiras_, some 20 lb. each in
weight. With the little salt which remained we preserved some of the
fish, as we were now getting very short of food. However, we had
excellent meals most of the time on the river, frying the fish with fat
which we extracted from the fish itself.
During the night of July 26th we had a minimum temperature of 55° F., but
as we had had plenty to eat the previous evening--in fact, too much--we
did not feel the cold quite so severely.
_Ariranhas_ in large families were plentiful near that spot, and came
close several times, grinding their teeth at us, especially when we were
slaughtering the fish on the bank. We kept watch during the entire night,
as on that occasion they were truly vicious. Our dogs, for a change,
became quite sportive. One of them, named Negrino, got furious with the
_ariranhas_, and, driven mad by their unmusical noises, actually jumped
into the stream to go to their attack. In a moment he had quantities of
_ariranhas_ upon him, and was bitten savagely, one ear being nearly torn
off. He endeavoured to beat a retreat, but by that time he was in
mid-stream and struggling for dear life against his enemies. We put out
in the canoe at once and went to his rescue, eventually getting him on
board in an exhausted condition, and bleeding terribly all over.
We enjoyed a hearty breakfast of boiled and fried fish before leaving
camp at 9 o'clock in the morning. We were sorry to leave the beautiful
camp--the best we had had since we had been on the River Arinos. There
were before us two great channels. The one flowing east was the larger of
the two, fully 400 m. wide and 3,000 m. long in a straight line. As we
were paddling along we passed on our left a triangular island the
southern side of which was 2,000 m. long, the south-east side 500
m.--Angela Island.
Where the river deviated to 30° b.m. a perfectly straight stretch of
8,000 m. was before us--a most beautiful sight. Two parallel islands,
only 50 m. wide, one 400 m. the other 300 m. long, were on the right of
us, in the part of the river where George Rex Island, which was still to
the right of us, described a graceful semicircle. Fifteen hundred metres
farther down George Rex Island came to an end with a beautiful spit of
sand 200 m. long. Just beyond, still on our right, another island, 400 m.
long--Rosalinda Island--was passed, also with a lovely spit of sand 200
m. in extent. The river at this place had a total width of 500 m. At a
point 5,000 m. down the straight stretch due east we came to three
parallel elongated islands, two of them 300 m. long, the third 1,000 m.
in length, all three on the right of us as we floated down. A barrier of
rocks extended right across the stream from north-west to south-east, at
a spot where on our left side, at b.m. 330°, a hill range extended
northwards. With a slight deviation of 10° eastward (40° b.m.) another
beautiful stretch of 6,000 m. was before us. More islands, more clusters
of picturesque rocks were passed. First came a group of two islands, the
larger 350 m. long--Vanessa Island; then a beautiful clean sand-spit 150
m. long, almost in mid-stream, preceded a group of three parallel
islands--Philomela Island, 400 m. long, Portia Island, 300 m. and Psyche
Island, 4,500 m. Beyond these were two more islands, one triangular in
shape in the centre of the stream--Rhea Island--some 250 m. long, with a
strong _corrideira_ at its north-easterly terminus.
[Illustration: A Giant Sucurí Snake with Entire Deer contained in
its Digestive Organs.]
A most gorgeous sand-bank of great length now lay on our left, while on
the right we had two small islets, one 100 m. long, another, beyond it,
500 m. long. A tributary entered the Arinos-Juruena at that spot on the
right side. Where the river turned again due east for 3,000 m.,
another set of parallel islands with a chain of hills beyond them on the
right bank was to be seen. The hill range extended from north-west to
south-east. All these ranges, with a backbone of rock underneath, formed,
as it were, the ribs which held up the central plateau of Brazil. We were
now in a region of wonderful accumulations of sand; nearly all the
islands showed a sand-spit of great length on the up-stream side. Great
islands occurred once more: Paulina Island, 2,500 m. long, on our left;
another, 200 m. long--Olivia Island--on our right; and a third--Clara
Island--just beyond it. A long tail of rocks followed, and the channel
was strewn with dangerous rocks where the river had cut its way through
the range of hills.
What must have been formerly an immense island which had become cut up
into three was now on the left of us as we followed the central channel
in an easterly direction. The first of these was comparatively small; the
next--Tristan Island--was 1,500 m. long; the third--Isolda Island--1,000
m. long. All were of extraordinary beauty. Rubber trees were to be seen,
but not in such great numbers as we had found farther up the stream.
Evidently the soil was somewhat too rocky and not sufficiently moist for
their healthy growth.
From due east the river suddenly turned to due north, diverted by the
great rib of rock which had formerly made part of the hill range we had
now on our right. We had a good deal of trouble here, as difficult rapids
were encountered, and sharp, cutting rocks, collision with which would
have been fatal for us. Our canoe, after the many bumps we had already
experienced, gave alarming signs that she might split in two
longitudinally at any moment. For 5,000 m. the river flowed in a
northerly direction. Great domes of granite and immense boulders were
scattered near the left bank, and rocks of all sizes and shapes emerged
from the water all over the basin, which was 600 m. across. Another
barrier of rock stretched from north-east to south-east and formed a high
drop in the river. We had to unload the canoe once more upon some rocks
in mid-stream, then let her gently down the step of foaming waters by
ropes. We were then in a magnificent basin 1,000 m. wide, with a great
cluster of impressive rocks on the right side, in front of two
enchantingly beautiful islands--Melisande Island, 400 m. long, Pelleas
Island, 700 m. long--on the left.
Whenever I was gazing enraptured at the heavenly scenery Alcides always
managed to send the canoe on to some rock, which quickly brought me back,
not to earth but to water. His principle in life was always to do the
worst thing and then you knew that nothing worse could happen--a
topsy-turvy philosophy for which we all had to suffer. Emerging from the
basin, we had two channels before us, one to the N.N.E., the other N.N.W.
Gigantic palm trees such as we had seen along the River Arinos were now
to be seen all along the banks of the river. We saw in the water not far
from us a large _sucuriú_ snake (_Eunictes murinus_), fully 6 in. in
diameter. It peeped its head out of the water to gaze curiously into our
canoe, and caused some excitement among my men.
Another immense barrier of rocks with most troublesome rapids extended
from south-west to north-east right across the stream. That seemed a
great place for snakes, especially in the narrow and tortuous channel
which we followed, between a great island--Victor Emmanuel Island--and
the left bank. We were going along fairly gaily when I saw a huge
snake--another _sucuriú_--floating upon the water among the foliage and
branches of a fallen tree. The section of the body which I could perceive
measured fully 2½ ft. in diameter, and I must say that for one moment--we
were only about 20 ft. away from it--I was somewhat surprised, as my
quickly calculating mind constructed in my imagination a snake at least
100 ft. long. My men immediately took to their rifles, and were about to
open a fusillade, but I stopped them, not caring to disturb the sleep of
so gigantic a reptile. It was with some relief that, as the canoe floated
quietly a little farther, I perceived the head of the snake resting
gracefully in a sound slumber upon a branch of the tree out of the water.
The head was of more normal proportions. We landed a little distance away
as quietly as possible, my men trembling all over with excitement and
fear in case the reptile should wake up. Then all together they opened a
fusillade until a bullet actually struck the snake and it wriggled about.
There was a stampede of all my men through the foliage and plants which
grew along the stream. The snake was dead. When they had made quite sure
that life was extinct my men returned and pulled the snake out of the
water. Although the section we had seen floating was so big, the rest of
the body was not more than 4 in. in diameter. The snake had eaten an
entire _veado_ (deer), and that was the cause of the great swelling of
the central part of its body. The shape of the devoured animal could be
seen plainly inside it. The photograph of the reptile which I took is
given in one of the illustrations of this book. The light was not good
for photographic purposes, as it was late in the afternoon and the snake,
which after all was only 18 ft. 5 in. long, lay under the shadow of the
foliage, which made photography rather difficult. As I was trying to get
a second photograph my men proceeded with their knives to open the snake
and see what was inside. The terrific odour which ensued when they did so
made us violently ill, causing desperate vomiting. I have seen it stated,
in some books which have been published about South America, that snakes
of incredible length are believed to exist on that continent. Undoubtedly
the notion has been suggested by the fact that inexperienced travellers
have seen immensely broad traces of snakes along the soft ground near
rivers. Measuring the diameter of those trails they came to the
conclusion that the snake was 80 to 100 ft. long, and without taking
further trouble to ascertain they stated they had actually seen a snake
of that length. Whereas, as a matter of fact, as in the case I have
described, the immense diameter of the snake was merely in the section
which enclosed some big animal which had been swallowed.
[Illustration: An Easy Rapid.]
[Illustration: Going through a Narrow Channel.]