distance; and here we had to take the boats out of the water; and,
availing ourselves of the lianas which hung down from the lofty forest
trees like ropes, we dragged them over the rocks. At twenty-one minutes
past two we resumed our journey; and from twenty-two minutes past to
half past eight we descended an irregular stair composed of several
ledges, shipping much water. Up to this point the Loquilocun flowed in
a rocky bed, with (for the most part) steep banks, and sometimes for
a long distance under a thick canopy of boughs, from which powerful
tendrils and ferns, more than a fathom in length, were suspended. Here
the country was to some extent open; flat hillocks, with low underwood,
came to view, and, on the north-west, loftier wooded mountains. The
last two hours were notable for a heavy fall of rain, and, about half
past five, we reached a solitary house occupied by friendly people,
where we took up our quarters for the night.

[Down the river.] On the following morning the journey was continued
down the river. Within ten minutes we glided past the last waterfall,
between white calcareous rocks of a kind of marble, covered with
magnificent vegetation. Branches, completely covered with phalaenopses
(P. Aphrodite, Reichb. fls.), projected over the river, their flowers
waving like large gorgeous butterflies over its foaming current. Two
hours later the stream became two hundred feet broad, and, after
leaping down a ladder of fifty meters in height from Loquilocun,
it steals away in gentle windings through a flat inundated country
to the east coast; forming a broad estuary, on the right bank of
which, half a league from the sea, the district of Jubasan or Paric
(population 2,300) is situated. The latter give their names to the
lower portion of the stream. Here the excellent fellows of Loquilocun
left me in order to begin their very arduous return journey.