We then came to one more great basin, with an immense quantity of rock in its western part. Many of the boulders showed a foliation in their strata with a dip of 45° east. The accumulation of boulders formed a formidable barrier before we reached an island most beautiful to gaze upon, so luxuriant was the vegetation on it.
This particular island was 200 m. long; next to it was another 150 m. long; then, joined to this by a link of high rocks to the south-east, was a third, also of considerable beauty. So charming were these islands that I called the group the Three Graces Islands.
The river turned due west from that point in a channel of continuous rapids and violent eddies for some 3,000 m. We went down, the canoe being knocked about in a most alarming way on one or two occasions, and shipping so much water as to reach almost up to our knees inside it.
It was fortunate that all my photographic plates, note-books and instruments were in water-tight boxes, or they certainly would have been damaged beyond saving. This was not the case with my clothes, shoes, and bedding, which had now been wet for many days with no possibility of drying them, as we were travelling all day long and every day, and during the night the heavy dew prevented them from getting dry. Why we did not get rheumatism I do not know, as not only did we wear wet things all day long, but we slept in blankets soaked with moisture.
The moment I dreaded most was that in which we emerged from the rapid into the whirlpool which always followed, and in which the canoe swerved with such terrific force that it was all we could do to hold on and not be flung clean out of her—owing, of course, to the centrifugal force as she revolved quickly.
Making a survey of the river was getting to be a complicated and serious job, what with the numberless islands we encountered, the continuous rapids, and the constant changes of direction. I was busy writing, as fast as I could—only interrupted momentarily by involuntary shower-baths—prismatic compass and watch in hand all the time, the latter in order to measure the distances as accurately as possible.
We had now come to another group of islands in a line in the centre of the river. They had been at one time evidently all one, which had subsequently been eroded into five separate islands and an extensive bank of gravel and sand. Taken in succession from south to north, there was first an oblong island, thickly wooded, 120 m. long—Nina Island—having on its western side an elongated bank of sand and gravel; then, where a barrier of rocks stretched transversely across the stream and where extremely bad rapids occurred—three of them in succession, each worse than the last—was another island—Providence Island—1,400 m. in length.
When we reached any rapid we had to be quick in judging which was the best channel to follow, as the current was so strong that we had not sufficient strength to pull back against it. I generally selected the channel, my men by this time having gained sufficient confidence in my judgment, since so far we had had no serious mishap. But I foresaw that we should soon have an accident, as they were getting foolhardy, and in their ignorance attributed the wonderful luck we had had entirely to their own skill in navigation.
On that particular occasion we had hardly time to recover from shooting the first rapid with the velocity of an arrow, and were wet all over with the splash of the water, when we came to the second and third rapids, where the channel was so narrow and rocks were scattered so near the surface, that it was really a marvel to me how we got through without capsizing. The men in their excitement were shrieking wildly as we dashed through the foaming waters, and there were also yells of positive terror from the man ahead, who with a long pole in hand tried to save the canoe from dashing now upon one rock then upon another.
Below the rapids the three other islands were Dora Island, 200 m. long; Edna Island, 500 m. long; and Lucia Island, 700 m. long.