Y. Hammocks and cooking
utensils completed our outfit. I took with me a large plate camera,
photographic plates and paper, chemicals, scales and weights; also
a magnifying glass, a primitive surgical outfit, and a hypodermic
needle with several dozen prepared "ampules." My men were armed with
the usual .44 Winchesters and some ancient muzzle-loaders, while I
had my 9mm. automatic Luger pistol. When we were fully packed, each
man carried a load weighing eighty-five pounds, strapped by means of
bark strips to the shoulders, with his rifle in his left hand and a
machete to clear the path in his right.
Thus equipped, we left headquarters, not knowing how or when we
would see it again, while the natives fired a farewell salute,
wishing us God-speed.
After a few hours by canoe, up the Itecoahy, we left the river and
turned our faces inland. Our way now led through dense forest, but for
four hours we travelled in a region familiar to the rubber-workers,
and we were able to follow pathways used by them in their daily work.
Let no one think that a jungle trail is broad and easy. As I stumbled
along the tortuous, uneven path, in the sweltering mid-day heat,
pestered by legions of _piums_ or sand-flies and the omnipresent
mosquitoes, climbing, fallen trees that impeded us at every turn,
I thought that I had reached the climax of discomfort.
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