This happened at _tambo_
No. 2. We called each successive hut by its respective number. Here we
had a great culinary feast, so great that during the following days I
thought of this time with a sad "_ils sont passe, ces jours de fete_."
Now, guided by the position of the sun, we held a course due west, our
ultimate destination being a far-off region where the Chief expected
to find large areas covered with fine caoutchouc trees. The ground
was hilly and interspersed with deeply cut creeks where we could see
the ugly heads of the _jararaca_ snakes pop up as if they were waiting
for us. There was only one way of crossing these creeks; this was by
felling a young tree across the stream for a bridge. A long slender
stick was then cut and one end placed at the bottom of the creek, when
each man seizing this in his right hand steadied himself over the tree
to the other side of the deep treacherous water. It required steady
nerve to walk this trunk, such as I did not possess, therefore I found
it safer to hang from the levelled bole by my hands and travel across
in that manner. _Tambo_ No. 3 we constructed ourselves, as we did every
other for the rest of the journey. We always selected a site near a
creek that we were following, and cleared away the underbrush so as to
leave an open area of about twenty-five feet square, always allowing
one tree to remain for a corner.
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