The current of the river grew swifter; there were stretches of broken water that were almost rapids; the laboring engine strained and sobbed as with increasing difficulty it urged forward the launch and her clumsy consort.  At nightfall we moored beside the bank, where the forest was open enough to permit a comfortable camp.  That night the ants ate large holes in Miller’s mosquito-netting, and almost devoured his socks and shoe-laces.

At sunrise we again started.  There were occasional stretches of swift, broken water, almost rapids, in the river; everywhere the current was swift, and our progress was slow.  The prancha was towed at the end of a hawser, and her crew poled.  Even thus we only just made the riffle in more than one case.  Two or three times cormorants and snake-birds, perched on snags in the river or on trees alongside it, permitted the boat to come within a few yards.  In one piece of high forest we saw a party of toucans, conspicuous even among the tree tops because of their huge bills and the leisurely expertness with which they crawled, climbed, and hopped among the branches.  We went by several fazendas.

Shortly before noon—­January 16—­we reached Tapirapoan, the headquarters of the Telegraphic Commission.  It was an attractive place, on the river-front, and it was gayly bedecked with flags, not only those of Brazil and the United States, but of all the other American republics, in our honor.  There was a large, green square, with trees standing in the middle of it.  On one side of this square were the buildings of the Telegraphic Commission, on the other those of a big ranch, of which this is the headquarters.  In addition, there were stables, sheds, outhouses, and corrals; and there were cultivated fields near by.  Milch cows, beef-cattle, oxen, and mules wandered almost at will.  There were two or three wagons and carts, and a traction automobile, used in the construction of the telegraph-line, but not available in the rainy season, at the time of our trip.

Here we were to begin our trip overland, on pack-mules and pack-oxen, scores of which had been gathered to meet us.  Several days were needed to apportion the loads and arrange for the several divisions in which it was necessary that so large a party should attempt the long wilderness march, through a country where there was not much food for man or beast, and where it was always possible to run into a district in which fatal cattle or horse diseases were prevalent.  Fiala, with his usual efficiency, took charge of handling the outfit of the American portion of the expedition, with Sigg as an active and useful assistant.  Harper, who like the others worked with whole-hearted zeal and cheerfulness, also helped him, except when he was engaged in helping the naturalists.  The two latter, Cherrie and Miller, had so far done the hardest and the best work of the expedition.  They had collected about a thousand birds and two hundred and fifty mammals.  It was not probable that they