CHAPTER XIV.The river Yata—Meeting with another party descending from Bolivia—The rapids of Bananeiras—Abandoned settlement—Variability of the Bolivian character—The cabeçeiras of Bananeiras—The Sierra da Paca Nova—The rapids of Guajará Guasu and Merim—A few hints on leaving the last of the rapids.
The river Yata—Meeting with another party descending from Bolivia—The rapids of Bananeiras—Abandoned settlement—Variability of the Bolivian character—The cabeçeiras of Bananeiras—The Sierra da Paca Nova—The rapids of Guajará Guasu and Merim—A few hints on leaving the last of the rapids.
The next morning (the 28th) broke dull and cloudy, but warmer than the past two days, and by about 7.30 the sun came out to cheer us up. The river Yata, which we passed about this time, enters into the Madeira on its left or Bolivian bank, and appears to be a considerable stream, it being perhaps 100 yards in width at the junction. On the right or Brazilian side, opposite to the Yata, are rocks and a very stiff current, which by some travellers have been set down as a cachuela, but which are not now included in the existing nineteen.
Hereabouts we met a canoe descending the river from Bolivia, with about thirty men and four or five women going down to Bayetas, a rubber-gathering station already mentioned as being on the lower part of the Madeira. The men were all Cruzeños, and in charge of a capataz only, from whom I bought a small quantity of fresh Bolivian yuca flour, for which he charged me six hard dollars for about twenty-five pounds, worth at Exaltacion, in the Beni,about a dollar. This generous Bolivian was out of sugar, and begged me to let him have a few pounds. I had a good stock, so gave him five pounds, for which he allowed me a dollar out of the six he took from me for the yuca flour, although, if I had charged him according to his idea of the value of his food supplies in the cachuelas, I ought to have charged him about a dollar a pound. The whole of this day we paddled up the right or Brazilian bank until the first small current below the Bananeiras Falls was reached, when we crossed over to the Bolivian shore, where, about 5.30 p.m., we got stuck amongst a lot of driftwood, our hawsers getting entangled therein, so that we could not get up to the unloading place that night, but had to make fast and pass the night on a small mudbank as best we could.
On the 29th we got up to the port of the Bananeiras Falls by about six o’clock, and found the canoes that had preceded us, with their cargoes passed but the canoes still on this side. The channels for passing the canoes were full of rocks, and very dangerous, the one ours went up being very dry, and giving a great amount of work to the men. Some of the canoes went up a channel lower down stream than that I chose for mine, but had to encounter a drop in the water of about eight feet in as many yards, one of them filling and being saved with great difficulty. As we were detained the whole day at this fall, I took the opportunity of loading up a stock of cartridges for the journey, from the last rapid to the first village in Bolivia (Exaltacion), a journey of about ten days, duringwhich very little time, if any, can be spared for stoppages.
At this fall, about eight or ten years ago, two Bolivians made a small settlement on the left or Bolivian side of the river, with the object of forming a rubber-gathering business. One of them, Don Miguel Cuellas, was returning to Bolivia, having made a small competency out of rubber on the Madeira River below San Antonio. He owned three of the largest canoes of the seven forming our expedition, his portion of the goods for sale in Bolivia going up with us being worth at least seven or eight thousand pounds. He told me that he and his partner lived at Bananeiras for about twelve months, but that they found the yield from the rubber trees to be very much less than that given by the trees below the falls of the Madeira; that their health had been uniformly good, and that they had not been molested by the savages, who seem in this part of the river to roam about on the Brazilian shore only.
Our cargoes were carried over the portage to the eastern side of the island which overlooks the fall, and we were ready to begin the struggle with the numerous currents which are found amongst the islands stretching above the main fall for nearly four miles of the river’s course, and which are known as the “Cabeçeiras,” or heads of the Bananeiras Falls; but the day was too far advanced to think of making any progress before nightfall.
Before leaving this cachuela, I had afforded me a convincing proof of the instability of character and the true selfishness of some Bolivians. There were three patrons in the expedition besides myself, andone of these, a certain Juan de Dios Molina, had arranged, before starting from San Antonio, that he would throughout the journey keep with my canoe, as my crew being known to be a very weak one, I was certain to require constant help at the rapids and currents. Besides having settled this, in the way of business, at San Antonio, this Molina had frequently during the journey assured me, as a friend, that he would not separate from me until we arrived at the townships of the Beni; but I discovered at Bananeiras that for some days past he had been complaining to the other two patrons of the great delays that I caused him, and had declared his intention of abandoning me to my own resources. This he took care not to do until we were almost out of the rapids, as he thought he would have no further need for the services of my small canoe, or montaria—which had been very serviceable to all the party, since the one belonging to Señor Morales was lost in Morinhos—and he also thought that he had obtained from me all the surplus cachaça and farinha that I had to spare, so that he could separate from me without much loss to himself. If Molina showed me the bad side of Bolivian character—and it was not much to be wondered at with him, seeing that he was almost a full-blooded Indian—I was fortunate in finding the good side in Don Miguel Cuellas, who volunteered to assist me, and waited for me amongst the difficult places in the rapids yet to be passed, and never lost sight of me until we reached Exaltacion, which we did two clear days before Molina, much to that worthy’s chagrin. And thus it is with the Bolivians; you will find many crafty, mean, anduntruthful characters amongst them, but close by this undesirable acquaintance you are sure to find a generous, warm-hearted, and true friend such as I found in Don Miguel Cuellas, without whose assistance I should certainly have come to grief amongst the cabeçeiras of Bananeiras, or the wandering savages of the upper waters of the Madeira. To Don Miguel I am always bound to give sincere thanks whenever I think of the latter end of my journey on that river.
On the 30th we started, as usual, in good time, and had to cross the openings of channels between islands which appeared to me to be unpleasantly dangerous, as the current ran fearfully strong down them. We got over two of these safely, and then saw Molina cross to an island in mid-stream, which he barely succeeded in gaining. I liked the look of this job much less than keeping to the mainland, for I believe that if we had tried to follow, we should certainly have missed the island, and have been carried down stream right into the main body of the cachuela, for my crew could never have made headway against the powerful current running in mid-river; so, as I had the montaria, I kept to the mainland, and struggled on till about 10.30, when I saw Don Miguel’s three canoes ahead of me on the same side, and unloading part of their cargoes in order to get over a shallow current. On getting up, Don Miguel offered me a pull by his men, which I joyfully accepted, and got over the current well, breakfasting above it, and starting again soon after mid-day. I got on pretty well after this, being generally able to keep at the tail of the largest of thethree canoes, called for distinction the “batelão.” These cabeçeiras of Bananeiras are as bad, if not worse, than those of the Madeira Rapid, but not so tiring as those of the Rabo of Ribeirão; we got through the last of them by about half-past three, and paddled on up the left bank till 5 p.m., when we arrived at the stopping-place for the night. The weather was again dull and cold, the morning having been foggy, with small drizzling rain, and as we had no sun, the men kept on their ponchos all day. From where we stopped, one sees the high range of hills called the “Sierra da Paca Nova,” which form part of the Cordilheira Geral; they are a considerable distance from the river, being apparently some thirty or forty miles inland.
The next morning, the 31st, was a very early daybreak, and we started at 5 a.m., there being a thick mist on the river till nearly nine o’clock, when the sun came out warm and bright. When the fog rose, all the seven canoes were almost in hail of one another, and as we had been paddling all the morning without encountering any currents, I found that I was able to keep my place in the file, behind the batelão; so that Molina, who did not wait on the last two mornings, as usual, for me to come up to his “pascana,” or stopping-place, will find it hard work to abandon me to my own resources, as he intended. After breakfasting about mid-day as usual, we arrived at the next rapid of Guajará-guasu, where all the seven canoes met together again, having to unload half their cargoes before they could be hauled over the shallow currents on the left or Bolivian side. Over this cachuela I was assisted by Don Miguel’smen, who gladly accepted their “pinga,” or tot of cachaça, instead of Molina’s men, who had heretofore enjoyed this extra allowance. It was nightfall before we got all the canoes over the rapid, and as hereabouts the men begin to have fears of the “barbaros,” or savages, we got our suppers over as quickly as possible, and then re-embarked the cargoes by moonlight, so as to be ready for an early start.
On June the 1st the day was fine, and the canoes started by 5 a.m., but I had to wait whilst some of my men fetched the montaria over the rapid; however, we soon overtook the batelão, and in trying to pass it at a corriente got foul of its rope, by which the crew were hauling from shore. Fouling the rope sent the batelão round on the rocks, and she being a very heavy craft, deeply laden with iron and other merchandise, gave a great deal of work to get round again and afloat. About half a league above the top current of Guajará-guasu, there is on the left bank a very peculiar thin layer of rock, hollowed out by a very strong and dangerous “remanso,” or return current; the canoes run great risk of being driven on to the bank, and as the layer of rock jutted out about five feet above the water level, we ran great danger from the sharp projections.
At about ten o’clock we came to Guajará Merim (the word “Guasu” meaning “Great,” and “Merim” “Little,” in the Lingua Geral of Northern Brazil), which is the last of the nineteen rapids, and is at the top end of a large island lying between the two Guajarás. This rapid we passed on the left or Brazilian shore, it being at this time of year little more than a corriente, which we easily surmountedby hauling for one rope’s length, and so we passed above the region of the cachuelas, it being the thirty-ninth day since we left San Antonio.
The ascent of the cachuelas has been somewhat wearisome, as we have had to go through thirty-seven clear days of hard and constant labour, battling with the force of the many currents; but with a good crew and pleasant companions, both of which vital necessaries were wanting to me on my journey, I would not at all mind doing the rapids over again. To go with about three or four canoes well manned, and with a couple of montarias, would be much better than travelling with such a large number of canoes as seven; for the last of these has to wait such a long time at all the currents and cachuelas, where hauling by the rope is required before its turn comes. With a well-organized expedition I think the ascent, in this season of the year, might be accomplished in twenty-eight or thirty days. It may here be noted that a good hemp hawser an inch or an inch and a quarter in diameter, and about 200 feet in length, should be provided for each canoe. Piassava ropes do not answer, although from their lightness they are desirable; but they break so frequently, that they cannot be depended upon. Also each canoe should have a double and a single block to match the rope, as these are very useful at the land portages if from any cause the expedition should be short-handed. A good set of tools, a few nails, and some pitch tar and oakum should be provided, not forgetting a few sheets of tin for patching up holes that may be knocked into the canoes by obtrusive rocks.