These statements can all be verified.
[CHAPTER IV--AWAY DOWN THE RIVER]
Before we start on this adventurous cruise, let us take a peep at an upland region to the south of the Amazon. It was entirely surrounded by caoutchouc or india-rubber trees, and it was while wandering through this dense forest with Jake, and making arrangements for the tapping of those trees, the juice of which was bound to bring the St. Clairs much money, that they came upon the rocky table-land where they found the gold.
This was some months after the strange Indian had found the "babes in the wood", as Jake sometimes called Roland and Peggy.
"I say, sir, do you see the quartz showing white everywhere through the bloom of those beautiful flowers?"
"Ugh!" cried St. Clair, as a splendidly-coloured but hideous large snake hissed and glided away from between his feet. "Ugh! had I tramped on that fellow my prospecting would have been all ended."
"True, sir," said Jake; "but about the quartz?"
"Well, Jake."
"Well, Mr. St. Clair, there is gold here. I do not say that we've struck an El Dorado, but I am certain there is something worth digging for in this region."
"Shall we try? You've been in Australia. What say you to a shaft?"