As I shall have an opportunity of speaking at greater length of the saubas later in this volume, I shall leave them now, merely mentioning that during the entire night we were unable to sleep owing to those brutes. And that was not all: we had many of our clothes, shoes, and other articles entirely destroyed by them.
We called that place Camp Carregador. The nights had become by then quite stifling and damp, the minimum temperature on July 21st being 63° F.
No sooner had we started on our journey that day than we came to rapids. A lot of rocks stood everywhere in the stream. The river after that flowed in a snake-like fashion for 5,000 m. in a general direction N.N.E., and was there comparatively free from serious obstacles. We came to a triangular island 700 m. long—Ada Island—separated from a second island by a channel 50 m. wide. This second island—Hugo Island—formed an isosceles triangle of 800 m. each side. These two islands were evidently at one time joined together, forming a lozenge-shaped island, and had been eroded in the centre by the back-wash of the stream at the spot where it formed an angle.
Where the river turned from 315° b.m. to 340° b.m., it was much strewn with sharp cutting rocks. We were thrown with great violence on one of these and very nearly capsized. Great heaps of volcanic boulders were now seen on the right side of the channel, and one island 50 m. long—Nora Island—with a few shrubs on it.
A Dangerous Rapid.
Taking the Canoe and Part of the Baggage down a Narrow Passage among Rocks.