. We
had come along its winding course about 140 kilometres, with a descent
of somewhere in the neighborhood of 124 metres. It had been slow
progress. We could not tell what physical obstacles were ahead of us,
nor whether the Indians would be actively hostile. But a river
normally describes in its course a parabola, the steep descent being
in the upper part; and we hoped that in the future we should not have
to encounter so many and such difficult rapids as we had already
encountered, and that therefore we would make better time--a hope
destined to failure.

IX. DOWN AN UNKNOWN RIVER INTO THE EQUATORIAL FOREST

The mightiest river in the world is the Amazon. It runs from west to
east, from the sunset to the sunrise, from the Andes to the Atlantic.
The main stream flows almost along the equator, while the basin which
contains its affluents extends many degrees north and south of the
equator. The gigantic equatorial river basin is filled with an immense
forest, the largest in the world, with which no other forest can be
compared save those of western Africa and Malaysia. We were within the
southern boundary of this great equatorial forest, on a river which
was not merely unknown but unguessed at, no geographer having ever
suspected its existence. This river flowed northward toward the
equator, but whither it would go, whether it would turn one way or
another, the length of its course, where it would come out, the
character of the stream itself, and the character of the dwellers
along its banks--all these things were yet to be discovered.

One morning while the canoes were being built Kermit and I walked a
few kilometres down the river and surveyed the next rapids below. The
vast still forest was almost empty of life. We found old Indian signs.
There were very few birds, and these in the tops of the tall trees. We
saw a recent tapir track; and under a cajazeira tree by the bank there
were the tracks of capybaras which had been eating the fallen fruit.
This fruit is delicious and would make a valuable addition to our
orchards. The tree although tropical is hardy, thrives when
domesticated, and propagates rapidly from shoots. The Department of
Agriculture should try whether it would not grow in southern
California and Florida. This was the tree from which the doctor's
family name was taken. His parental grandfather, although of
Portuguese blood, was an intensely patriotic Brazilian. He was a very
young man