Across Unknown South America

by Arnold Henry Savage Landor

In the centre of the basin 400 m. wide to which we next came was an island, 80 m. in diameter—Gingillo Island—and to the south-west of it a small islet with an extensive beach and accumulation of rocks in a northerly direction. On the southern side of the river a sand beach, interspersed with rocks, spread almost across, as far as the latter island.

I took 55 astronomical sights in order to get the exact latitude and longitude (lat. 10° 30′·7 S.; long. 58° 19′ W.), and to check the time of the second chronometer, which still remained in my possession. We had made poor progress that day as far as the distance went—only 17 kil. 100 m.

We had come to some nasty rapids, which at first looked quite impassable by water, some of the waves shooting up so high in the air as to make it out of the question for any canoe to go through.

There was another extensive filare of rock, so beautifully polished that it looked almost as if it had been varnished over. It was evidently an ancient flow of lava, with great holes in it here and there. The flow spread from south-west to north-east, was of a brilliant shining yellow, and most beautiful to look at.

I had to make my camp on the rocks near this rapid, where we unloaded the canoe in order to take her down by means of ropes by the eastern channel—very narrow and very unpleasant, but it was the only one possible. It was all we could do to hold the canoe as she tobogganed down the incline, and we had some nasty falls on the slippery rock trying to hold her.

We had a dangerous bit of work to do the moment we had descended the rapid, for we had then to navigate the canoe right across the basin, where whirlpools of some magnitude were formed, directly over a waterfall of some height and pouring down great volumes of water with a terrific roar on the north-east side of the basin; then along the really terrifying rapid on the south-west side. It was necessary to do that, as I had observed that it was only on the opposite side of the river that we could possibly take the canoe down, and no other course was open to us than to go across that dangerous spot.

We had to be smart about it, or we certainly should have perished. My men behaved splendidly. We had reloaded the canoe. The quarter of an hour or so which it took us to cross that basin was somewhat exciting, as we struggled through the various whirlpools, the current all the time dragging us closer and closer to the waterfall, while my men were paddling with all their might and Alcides was steering right against the current in order to prevent the fatal leap.

I urged the men on, and they paddled and paddled away, their eyes fixed on the fall which was by that time only a few metres away from us. They were exhausted in the frantic effort, and their paddles seemed to have no effect in propelling the canoe. The men, who were always talkative, were now silent; only the man X exclaimed, as we were only eight or ten metres from the fall: "Good-bye, father and mother! I shall never see you again!" The other men gave a ghastly grin.

Preparing to descend a Rapid.