At Death's Door--Mundurucu Indians--All Author's Followers
poisoned by Wild Fruit--Anxious Moments--Seringueiros--A Dying
Jewish Trader--The Mori Brothers--A New Hat--Where the Tres
Barras meets the Arinos-Juruena--The Canoe abandoned
WE had a minimum temperature on the night of August 15th of 70° F.
We descended the All Saints rapid and fall, 150 m. in length, with no
great difficulty, although with a certain amount of hard work.
A large basin was below it, in the eastern part of which was a charming
island. Innumerable rubber trees (_Siphonia elastica_) were to be seen in
that region. We found the south-east passage the best in descending that
rapid; but, although comparatively easy, we had to use the greatest care,
as my canoe was by now falling to pieces, and a hard knock against a rock
would be fatal.
At the eastern end of the basin was a narrow channel between high rocks,
where the current was extremely strong. A cluster of high vertical
columnar rocks was seen. The three channels into which the river had been
divided joined again in that basin, and were forced through a passage
between high vertical rocky walls not more than 35 m. apart.
The water naturally was much troubled in being forced from different
sides through that narrow passage, and I knew that there must be danger.
We pulled up the canoe along some rocks 50 or 60 m. from the entrance of
the channel, and I instructed two men to land and go and explore, to see
what was in the channel. The top rocks in that particular spot formed
innumerable little points, quite sharp, and it was painful to walk on
them with bare feet.
Antonio and white Filippe, who had been instructed to go and reconnoitre,
went a short distance away, where they sat themselves down behind some
rocks, comfortably smoking cigarettes. After twenty minutes or so they
returned and said they had gone all along the channel, and there was
absolutely smooth water and no danger whatever. I was not well satisfied
with their answer, but they swore they had inspected the channel
thoroughly, and there was no danger. So I ordered them to enter the boat
once more, and we started off.
No sooner had we turned the corner round the high rocky cliffs and
entered the narrow gorge than we were confronted by a huge central wave
some 40 ft. high in the channel. It was formed by the clashing waters,
coming from three different directions, meeting at that spot and trying
to push through simultaneously. Before we knew where we were the canoe
actually flew up in the air, in an almost vertical position, to the top
of that enormous wave.
[Illustration: A Moment of Suspense.
Author and his men in their canoe going through a narrow channel between
vertical walls of rock. The water forced through from three large arms of
the river joining at that point formed a high and dangerous central
wave.]
Baggage, men, and dogs slid down in confusion, the canoe gliding back
into the water and progressing as swift as an arrow down the channel. The
next moment we were on the point of being dashed against the high
rocky cliff on our right. To my amazement, and just as I was expecting
the impact, the canoe only gracefully shaved the rock, the backwash which
took place along the rocks shifting us once more toward the middle of the
stream.
Once again the great rush of water shot us up in the air, above the
central wave, and this time the canoe bucked and rode down on the other
side of that foaming mass of water.
My men were terrified. "Rema! rema! (Row! row!) for Heaven's sake!" I
shouted to the perplexed men, as I tried to instil into them a little
courage, when within me I really thought we were lost. As I shouted those
words I saw to my horror two of the paddles washed away, and as I quickly
measured with my eye the length of the channel I perceived that we still
had some 200 m. more of that kind of navigation before we should shoot
out of that dangerous place.
Up and down we went several times on that high central wave; several
times did we again shave the rocks on either side of the narrow channel.
We were quite helpless, my men in chorus yelling "We are lost! we are
lost!"
Alcides bravely stuck to the helm for some time, but the force of the
water was so great that he was knocked down into the canoe and had to let
go. When we reached the point where the narrow passage came to an end,
the waters looked so diabolical that when my men shouted "We are lost! we
are lost!" I could not help saying "Yes, we are!"
I held on to the canoe desperately, as we were banged about for a few
seconds in a way that nearly stunned us, the waves striking me in the
face with such force that it took me some moments to recover. When I did
I found that we were already out of the channel and in the whirlpool, the
canoe full of water but fortunately saved.
I lose most things in the world, but I never lose my patience nor my
sense of humour. I could not help laughing when I looked at the
expression on the faces of my dogs--an expression of terror and
astonishment, as they looked first at the place from which we had emerged
and then at me, which I am sure would have meant in words: "Good
gracious! where in the world are you taking us?"
We had to halt as soon as convenient in order to cut some new paddles. It
took my men some hours to recover from the effects of that experience.
As is generally the case after a violent emotion, a great deal of
merriment was produced, my men for the rest of the day talking about the
incident and reproducing in a realistic way the sounds of the rushing
water and the impact of the waves against the canoe.
We found after that a great basin 3,000 m. long, 1,300 m. broad, from
west to east, with a lovely sand beach 1,000 m. long on its eastern side.
[Illustration: Conveying the Canoe through the Forest.
(Notice the side of the canoe split and stuffed with pieces of cloth.)]
At last--after all that time without meeting a soul--I came across a
small tribe of Mundurucus--six of them all counted. They had their
_aldeja_, or village, on the right side of the stream. Their chief
rejoiced in the name of João. They were tiny little fellows, the tallest
only 5 ft. in height. If you had met them anywhere else than in Central
Brazil you would have mistaken them for Japanese, so exactly like them
were they in appearance. Their faces were of a very dark yellow, almost
black, with perfectly straight hair, just like the Japanese or their near
cousins, the Tagalos of the Philippine Islands.
The Mundurucus were mild and gentle, soft-spoken and shy. They had all
adopted Brazilian clothes. The hut of the chief was extremely clean and
neat inside, the few utensils that were visible being kept in a tidy
manner.
João spoke a little Portuguese. From him I was able to buy a quantity of
_farinha_, which came in useful to us, although I had to pay an
exorbitant price for it--£4 sterling for each 50 litres or
thereabouts--that is to say, about 5½ pecks in English measure. The price
of _farinha_ on the coast would be less than four shillings for that
quantity.
What interested me most among the Mundurucus was their strange
ornamentations. The angular pattern was a great favourite with them,
especially angles side by side, and the cross--which I think had been
suggested, however, by their contact with Catholic missionaries farther
down the river.
The rudimentary figures which they carved--merely lines for the body,
legs and arms, and a dot for the head--were extraordinary because they
represented the body and limbs covered with hair, done simply by minor
parallel lines. I asked the Mundurucus why they represented human beings
with hair, whereas they themselves were hairless on the body and face.
They said it was because in ancient times all the people were hairy like
monkeys.
I was strongly impressed by the difference in type between those Indians
and the Bororos, and also by the great difference in their language. When
later on I came in contact with the Apiacars, another tribe of Indians
living on the Tapajoz River, and closely allied to the Mundurucus, I
discovered that their language bore a certain resemblance, curiously
enough, to that of the Maya Indians of Yucatan in Central America.
I had been so busy taking notes of all I had seen in the _aldeja_, that
when we started once more down the river I did not at first miss my best
dog, Negrino, of whom I had got very fond. We had gone some 4 or 5 kil.
down the river when I discovered that my men had given it away to the
Indians while I was occupied studying the geological formation of that
part of the country. It was impossible to go back all those kilometres
against the current to recover the poor dog. Although it gave me a great
deal of pain I never for one moment let the men see it, as I knew that it
was in order to hurt me that they had disposed of Negrino.
It is never right or useful to take revenge, for if you wait long enough
you are always avenged by Providence. That afternoon my men saw some wild
chestnuts on a tree, and they insisted on landing to pick them. They
knocked down the tree, as usual, to get the chestnuts, although it was
fully 3 ft. in diameter. They picked a great many of the wild chestnuts
and proceeded to eat them--Alcides, much to my amazement, actually
offering me one. I asked them if they knew what they were eating, as I
quickly observed when the tree fell down that not a single chestnut had
been touched by birds or monkeys.
I have always noticed in equatorial countries that if you never touch
fruit that monkeys do not eat you will seldom get poisoned. My men said
that they had never seen the fruit before, but as it looked pretty they
were going to eat it, and a lot of it. So they stopped some time cracking
the nuts and eating them with great delight.
When we got back to the canoe we had only gone a short distance when
Filippe the negro was seized with violent pains in his inside. His eyes
had become sunken, his lips were quivering, and in a moment he was seized
with cramps all over the body--so much so that he collapsed.
We had to halt on a small island of rock, where we took Filippe out and I
had him laid flat on his chest, he being just like a corpse. I inserted a
leather strap into his throat in order to cause immediate vomiting, then
I unpacked some of the castor oil which still remained in my
possession--we never seemed to lose the beastly stuff--and gave him a
dose powerful enough to kill an ox.
The other men were laughing all the time, saying that they felt no pain
at all; but their boast did not last long, for a few moments later, while
I was watching poor Filippe, Antonio and the man X threw themselves down
on the rocks, rolling over and contorting themselves, evidently in most
excruciating pain.
The same treatment was applied to them in turn, and I watched with great
concern three men out of the six spread out helpless, and in such a
dreadful condition that I really doubted whether they would be alive in
another hour. I considered myself fortunate that the other three had not
been poisoned.
Half an hour later--it was impossible to move on with the three men lying
helpless on the rocks--Filippe the white man and Benedicto also
collapsed. Again the same treatment once more.
Alcides looked at the other men with an air of contempt and said: "They
are rotten fellows! They cannot eat anything without getting poisoned. I
feel no pain at all; the fruit has done me no harm."
When I turned round to look at his face it had turned a lemon-yellow
colour, which I did not quite like, but I did not mention the fact to
him, and went about from one dejected man to another to try and bring
them back to life again.
Filippe the negro opened his eyes for a moment. "I am dying!" he said.
"Good-bye, sir! Please give all my money to my sweetheart in Araguary."
I noted her name and address in my book, for I really thought Filippe was
about to expire.
The moans and groans all round me were most funereal, and the odour
unbearable, the nuts having formed a chemical combination in their
insides which made their breath most offensive. The heat in the sun was
oppressive on those volcanic rocks. My bare feet were absolutely scorched
as I walked on them.
Not many minutes later Alcides was rolling himself upon the rocks in
intense pain. When I rushed to him to apply my favourite method he
rebelled, refusing the treatment.
"Very good," I said to him; "will you live or will you die?"
[Illustration: Leading the Empty Canoe down a Dangerous Channel.
(Photographed a few seconds before the rope snapped and canoe escaped.)]
"I prefer to die," said he, and proceeded to moan and groan, and also to
dictate the name and address of his sweetheart in Araguary for me to
pay to her the money which belonged to him.
In a way I was sorry to see my men suffering so much. I was already
thinking of how I could get out of that difficult dilemma. If they had
all died it would have been out of the question for me to work the huge
canoe alone going down such dangerous rapids.
Some four hours were spent in deepest reflection, a little distance off
from my men. I had done my best, and I could do no more for them. I
returned every little while to see how they were progressing, but for the
first three hours they were in so pitiful a condition that I really
thought they could not possibly recover.
When Alcides was almost unconscious I applied to him also the remedy I
had used for the other men.
It was only after some five hours or so that Filippe the negro began to
feel a little better. Gradually one after another the men, half-dazed,
were able to get up, swaying about as if badly intoxicated. They said
they saw all the things in front of them moving up and down. Evidently
the poison had affected their vision and also their hearing, as they said
they could only hear me faintly when I spoke to them.
Late in the evening I persuaded them to get once more into the canoe, as
it was not possible to camp on those rocks. We floated down--fortunately
for us the river was placid for some 15 kil., and we let the current do
most of the work--I steering while all my men lay flat in the bottom of
the canoe. We passed along two or three beautiful islands with quantities
of rubber upon them.
My men felt very bad the entire night, but by the next morning they were
a little better, although in a most exhausted condition. We had a minimum
temperature of 72° F. during the night of August 17th.
We had some luck that evening, for we came to the hut of a _seringueiro_,
a negro, and his wife, who had cut down a portion of the forest near
their hut and cultivated some _mandioca_. Their amazement at seeing us
appear was curious to watch, especially when they looked at our
canoe--held together with pieces of rope and stopped up with pieces of
our garments.
Those poor people, stranded there without a possibility of getting away,
were extremely kind. My men heard with delight that we should find no
rapids of great importance from that point down stream, and that we might
find a few other _seringueiros_ on our way.
I was able to buy from the _seringueiro_ a quantity of food, my men being
overjoyed at the prospect of eating _feijão_ again with their meals.
Naturally the expense of taking food so far up the river was very great,
and I was glad indeed to pay the exorbitant price which the _seringueiro_
asked of £10 sterling for each 50 kilos of _farinha_; _feijão_ at 6_s._ a
pound; sugar at 5_s._ a pound--the prices which the _seringueiros_
themselves had to pay for those commodities from the rare trading boats
which once a year reached that farthermost point.
We started down stream once more, passing a tributary stream, 5 m. wide,
on the left bank. We had only gone 9 kil. when to our great joy we met
two trading-boats owned by a Brazilian Jew, who was on board in a
critical condition from malarial fever. Although in a dying state, he had
not lost his racial commercial ability. It was most interesting to watch
his expiring countenance while trying to strike the best bargain
possible. He sold me sixty candles for 60_s._, eight biscuits for the
equivalent of 7_s._ 6_d._, and a quantity of dried meat at 5_s._ a pound.
He looked askance at us, as he could not make out who we were, what we
were doing up that river, where we could have come from. At last he
signed to me that he had something to whisper in my ear. He asked me if I
was a runaway cashier from a bank! I told him that if I had been a
runaway cashier I would certainly not come and spend my money on the
Arinos-Juruena River.
The sight of human beings again--if that term could be applied
indiscriminately to all we had met so far--had greatly excited my men.
Some 13 kil. farther, the river being smooth but swift, we came to a
basin 700 m. broad, where the river described a turn toward the
north-east. We came upon a large clearing on the hill-side on the left
bank. There we saw the remains of two or three huts which had been
destroyed by fire. We perceived one or two people, and we landed. We
found that it was the shed of an enterprising Peruvian trader who had
established himself there in order to collect rubber. Only a few days
before we arrived a great fire had taken place, which had destroyed
nearly all he possessed; but--fortunately for us--they had saved a few
things, and I was able to purchase a quantity of rice, biscuits, dried
meat, beans, _farinha_, condensed milk, _banho_ (liquid lard in tins),
and a number of other things, such as clothes, shirts, rope, nails,
axes, etc., which we needed badly.
The Peruvian trader--of the Brothers Mori's firm--must have had a
handsome store indeed at that place, a quantity of jewellery, rifles,
pistols, etc., all badly injured by the fire, being seen strewn on the
ground as we walked about.
The Peruvians are wonderful traders, most remarkable people for exploring
unknown regions and carrying on commerce to the most distant points where
human beings are found. That particular Peruvian firm had foreseen that
that region will some day develop to a great extent, and they had
therefore established their store at the most distant point where it was
possible to navigate the river without extraordinary dangers.
The prices charged by the Peruvian, even when circumstances might have
led him to put a high price on the goods he sold me, were far lower than
those of the Jew in his dying moments.
The river was there 1,000 m. wide, and of amazing beauty, flowing to 30°
b.m. N.N.E. for 5,000 m. in a direct line.
We had gone 30 kil. that day, and we had had so many things happen to us,
we felt so rich and happy with our new purchases and with the prospect
that our trials were nearly over, that when night came we had a grand
meal, and slept soundly notwithstanding the swarms of mosquitoes which
buzzed around us.
[Illustration: The S. Simão Waterfall.]
During the night of August 18th the minimum temperature was 71° F. During
the day the temperature of the air was not much warmer--only 78° F. in
the shade with a nice breeze, while 113° F. were registered in the sun.
We halted for one day in order to repair the canoe, as it was all we
could do to keep her afloat, she was leaking so badly. Poor Benedicto,
who had spent the last few weeks baling out the water, swore that the
moment he could leave the expedition he certainly would, since he felt he
should turn into a fish soon, as he had not been dry one second for the
last two months.
The minimum temperature during the night of August 19th was 72° F.
When we proceeded down the river we came upon most beautiful sand
beaches, one as much as 500 m. long. Quantities of most delicious
tortoise eggs were to be found. Furthermore, we killed some giant
tortoises. Altogether we felt that all of a sudden we had dropped from a
regular inferno into a heaven on earth.
My men were paddling away with great vigour and were making rapid
progress, the river flowing almost all the time northward, with
deviations of a few degrees toward the east, in stretches from 2,000 to
6,000 m. in length. We crossed an immense basin 1,500 m. broad with most
gorgeous sand beaches. Their formation in small dunes, occasionally with
an edge like the teeth of a double comb, was most interesting. Once or
twice we came to musical sands such as we had found before. Everywhere on
those beaches I noticed the wonderful miniature sand plants, of which I
made a complete collection.
As we went down we came to one or two _seringueiros_' huts, and to a
store belonging to our friend the dying Jew, who rejoiced in the name of
Moses. As he had taken all the stuff with him in the trading boat in
order to exchange it for rubber from the collectors, he had left nothing
in the store except a cheap straw hat.
As my hat by that time had lost most of its brim, and the top of it had
got loose and was moving up and down in the breeze, I thought I would not
lose the opportunity of getting new headgear. So the purchase was made
there and then, and thus fashionably attired I started once more down
stream.
We passed on the way most impressive sand banks and beaches--500, 700,
and one 1,500 m. long. The river in some spots was 1,000 m. wide. A great
island 4,000 m. in length--Bertino Miranda Island--was then passed, with
a beautiful spit of sand 15 ft. high at its southern end. Hillocks were
visible first on the left bank, then on the right. Other elongated sand
accumulations of great length were found beyond the big island, one a
huge tail of sand extending towards the north for 1,000 m. Beyond those
accumulations the river was not less than 1500 m. across, and there an
immense beach of really extraordinary beauty ran on the right side for a
length of 1½ kil.
On that beach we halted for lunch. In the afternoon we continued, between
banks on either side of alluvial formation, principally silts and clay,
light grey in colour or white. In fact, the soil in the section directly
below the higher terrace of the great central plateau of Matto Grosso,
was formed by extensive alluvial accumulations which had made an immense
terrace extending right across all Central Brazil from west to east,
roughly speaking from the Madeira River to the Araguaya and beyond.
After we had gone some 5 kil. in a straight line from our camp to 10°
b.m., we perceived a headland with a hill upon it 200 ft. high. We had
been greatly troubled in the afternoon for the last two days by heavy
showers of rain and gusts of a north-westerly wind. Once or twice we got
entangled in channels among the many islands, and had to retrace our
course, but we went on until late in the evening, my men believing firmly
that we had now reached civilization again and that the journey would be
over in a few days. I did not care to disillusion them.
Late at night we camped on a magnificent beach, 1,000 m. long, at the end
of Araujo Island, 1,200 m. in length.
We had gone that day, August 19th, 46 kil. 500 m.
My men hung their hammocks on the edge of the forest. That camp was
extremely damp and unhealthy. When we woke up the next morning all my
followers were attacked by fever and were shivering with cold.
We left at 7.30 a.m. under a limpid sky of gorgeous cobalt blue. We
passed two islands--one 700 m. long (Leda Island), the other 2,000 m.
(Leander Island). When we had gone but 11,500 m. we arrived at one of the
most beautiful bits of river scenery I have ever gazed upon--the spot
where the immense S. Manoel River or Tres Barras or Paranatinga met the
Arinos-Juruena. The latter river at that spot described a sharp turn
from 20° b.m. to 320° b.m. We perceived a range of hills before us to the
north. Close to the bank gradually appeared a large shed with a clearing
near it on a high headland some 200 ft. above the level of the river
where the stream turned. On the left bank, before we arrived at the
meeting-place of those two giant streams, we found a tributary, the
Bararati, 30 m. broad.
The S. Manoel River showed in its centre an elongated island stretching
in an E.N.E. direction. Where the Arinos-Juruena met the S. Manoel it was
1,000 m. wide, the S. Manoel being 800 m. wide at the point of junction.
No sooner had we turned to 320° b.m. than we perceived on our left the
_collectoria_ of S. Manoel, with two or three neat buildings. Several
astonished people rushed down to the water as they saw the canoe
approaching. When I landed the Brazilian official in charge of that place
and his assistants embraced me tenderly and took me inside their house.
When I told them how we had come down the river, tears streamed down
their cheeks, so horrified were they.
"Did you come in that log of wood?" said the collector, pointing to my
canoe. I said I had. "Good gracious me!" he exclaimed. "I will not let
you go another yard in that dangerous conveyance. I will confiscate it,
as I need a trough for my pigs and it will just do for that purpose, and
not for navigating a dangerous river like this. If you want to go on by
river I will supply you with a good boat."
[Illustration: The Huge Canoe being taken through a Small
Artificial Canal made in the Rocks by the Author and his Men.]
That was the last time I put my foot inside my canoe. I removed for good
the British flag which had flown daily at her stern, and it gave me
quite a _serrement de coeur_ when I patted the poor canoe on her nose and
said good-bye to her for ever. Notwithstanding her miserable appearance
she had done really remarkable work.