k and
manned against an assault. I hoped, but I was none too sure, that
shells might discourage them. The trees were full of monkeys of all
sizes and shades, and once we thought we saw a manlike creature
watching us from the depth of the forest.

Shortly after we resumed our course upstream, we saw the mouth of
another and smaller river emptying into the main channel from the
south--that is, upon our right; and almost immediately after we came
upon a large island five or six miles in length; and at fifty miles
there was a still larger river than the last coming in from the
northwest, the course of the main stream having now changed to
northeast by southwest. The water was quite free from reptiles, and
the vegetation upon the banks of the river had altered to more open and
parklike forest, with eucalyptus and acacia mingled with a scattering
of tree ferns, as though two distinct periods of geologic time had
overlapped and merged. The grass, too, was less flowering, though there
were still gorgeous patches mottling the greensward; and lastly, the
fauna was less multitudinous.

Six or seven miles farther, and the river widened considerably; before
us opened an expanse of water to the farther horizon, and then we
sailed out upon an inland sea so large that only a shore-line upon our
side was visible to us. The waters all about us were alive with life.
There were still a few reptiles; but there were fish by the thousands,
by the millions.

The water of the inland sea was very warm, almost hot, and the
atmosphere was hot and heavy above it. It seemed strange that beyond
the buttressed walls of Caprona icebergs floated and the south wind was
biting, for only a gentle breeze moved across the face of these living
waters, and that was damp and warm. Gradually, we commenced to divest
ourselves of our clothing, retaining only sufficient for modesty; but
the sun was not hot. It was more the heat of a steam-room than of an
oven.

We coasted up the shore of the lake in a north-westerly direction,
sounding all the time. We found the lake deep and the bottom rocky and
steeply shelving toward the center, and once when I moved straight out
from shore to take other soundings we could find no bottom whatsoever.
In open spaces along the shore we caught occasional glimpses of the
distant cliffs, and here they appeared only a trifle less precipitous
than those which bound Caprona on the seaward side. My theory is that
in a far dis