pe. One of the men, who was sitting behind me in the
canoe, saw an _ariranha_ (_Lutra Brasiliensis_) put its head out of the
water only ten metres in front of the canoe. In his great hurry to kill
the beautiful animal he seized his rifle and emptied the eight shots out
of his magazine, firing the first three shots close to my head on the
left side, the other five just as close on the other side. The muzzle of
his rifle was so near my ear that the noise deafened me for several
minutes and my hair was almost singed off. The _ariranha_, needless to
say, escaped unhurt, and luckily so did I.

We went over a long strip of shallow water from 1 to 3 ft. deep. We now
had open country on the right bank, with a small streamlet finding its
way into the Arinos on that side. The river was flowing again in long
straight stretches--3,000 m., 2,000 m., 2,500 m. in length. In the
portions where the banks were thickly wooded innumerable rubber trees
were to be seen.

In the centre of a basin 150 m. wide we found another island, 100 m. long
and 50 m. wide, absolutely smothered in vegetation and with a handsome
gravel spit at its southern end. Two kilometres farther another basin,
300 m. broad, appeared. An amazing quantity of rubber trees was to be
seen round that basin. Near the water we also found fine specimens of the
_mate_ (_Ilex Paraguayensis_ St. Hil.), with its wax-like leaves, much
used in certain parts of South America for making a kind of tea.

For close upon 13 kils. the river flowed--with slight deviations--almost
always due north, and with its limpid waters was of extraordinary beauty.
The country was open on the right side of us. We saw that day two white
_urubu_ (_Cathartes_). The Brazilians have a curious superstition about
them. They say that if you write with a quill taken from the wing of one
of these birds any business which you may be transacting will go well; in
fact, anything you may wish to do and which you set down on paper with
one of these quills and ink is sure to turn out successfully.

That day I again suffered much, while taking astronomical observations,
from the millions of bees and other insects which settled in swarms upon
my hands and face and stung me all over. We were then in lat. 12 deg. 26'.5
S., long. 56 deg. 37' W. The temperature in the sun was not
unbearable--merely 85 deg. Fahr.

In the afternoon, after we had enjoyed an excellent lunch of fish, tinned
provisions, and rice--my men also enj