, 1916-07-27
I-to-help us In tbe nayIgation

dams to~help US In the navigation 1
understand that they are the very W.
-Ataca and Ipetu by name-who ac-
companied Professor Challenger upon
his previous journey. They appeared
to be terrified at the prospect of re
peating It. but the chief has patri.
archal powers in these countries. ,and
II the bargain is good in his eyes the
Blansman has little choice in the mat
ter.
So tomorrow we disappear Into the
unknown. This account / am trans
uniting down the river by canoe, and
1t may be our last word to those who
are interested In our fate. ! have. &C
cording to our arrangement, addressed
It to you. my dear Mr.. McArdle, and i
leave 10 to your discretion to delete.
alter or do what you like with 1t.
From the assurances of Professor Chai-
lenger's n and in spite of the
continued skeptfcism Of Professor
Summarize I have no doubt that our
leader will make, good his statement
and that we are really on the v Of
some most remarkable experiences.
4 'hoNC ihbt WV W0EC uDout W
leave the Indian village where we had
been deposited by the Esmeralda. i
have to begin my report by bad news.
for the first serious personal trouble Il
pass owe the incessant chickering's be-
tween the professors) occurred this
evening and might have had o tragic
ending. have ~spokenoof our English
speaking half breed Gomez-aH fine
worker and a willing fellow but affiict-
ed, | fancy. with the vice Of curiosity,
which Is common enough among such
men, On the last evening he seems to
have hid himself near the hut in which
we were discussing our plans, and, be-
Ing observed by our huge negro Zambo,
who Is as faithful as a dog and has
the hatred which all his race bear to
the half breeds. he was dragged out
and carried into our presence Gomez
whipped out his knife, however. and
but for the huge strength Of his captor.
which enabled him to disarm him with
one hand, he would certainly have
stabbed him. The matter has ended in
compelled to shake hands, and there IS
every hope that all will be well.
For two days we made our way up
a good sized river. some hundreds of
yards broad and dark In color. but
transparent, so that one could usually
see the bottom. The affluents of the
Amazon are. half Of them, Of this ma
ture. while the other half are whitish
and Opaque, the difference depending
upon the class of country through which
they have flowed. The dark indicate
vegetable decay. while the others point
to clayey soil. Twice we came across
rapids and in each case made a port
age of half a mile or SO to avoid them.
The woods on either side were prime
val, which are more easily penetrated
than woods of the second growth, and
we had no great difficulty in carrying
our canoes through them. How shall
| ever forget the solemn mystery of it?
The. height of the trees and the thick
ness of the boles exceeded anything
which I in my town bred life could
have imagined, shooting upward in
magnificent columns until, at an enor-
nous distance above our heads, we
could dimly discern the spot where
they threw out their side branches into
Gothic upward curves which coalesced
to form one great matted roof of YER
dure, through which only an occasional
golden ray of sunshine shot downward
to trace a thin dazzling line of light
amid the majestic ~obscurity. As we
walked noiselessiy amid the thick, soft
carpet of d%ecaying vegetation'the hush
fell upon souls which comes upon
us in the twilight of the abbey, and
ever Professor Challenger's full chest
ed notes sank into a whisper. Alone
l should have been ignorant of the
names of these of giant growth, but our
men of science pointed u the cedars,
the great silk cotton trees and the red
wood trees, with all that profusion of
various plants which has made this
continent the chief supplier to the hui
man ace OF those gifts of nature
which depend upon the vegetable
world, while It is the most backward
In those products which come from