same time he corrected some of the measurements of La Condamine. But
then the mouth of the Napo was sensibly increased by the floods and
it was with a good deal of rapidity that its current, coming from the
eastern slopes of Cotopaxi, hurried fiercely to mingle itself with
the tawny waters of the Amazon.

A few Indians had wandered to the mouth of this river. They were
robust in build, of tall stature, with shaggy hair, and had their
noses pierced with a rod of palm, and the lobes of their ears
lengthened to their shoulders by the weight of heavy rings of
precious wood. Some women were with them. None of them showed any
intention of coming on board. It is asserted that these natives are
cannibals; but if that is true--and it is said of many of the
riverine tribes--there must have been more evidence for the
cannibalism than we get to-day.

Some hours later the village of Bella Vista, situated on a somewhat
lower bank, appeared, with its cluster of magnificent trees, towering
above a few huts roofed with straw, over which there drooped the
large leaves of some medium-sized banana-trees, like the waters
overflowing from a tazza.

Then the pilot, so as to follow a better current, which turned off
from the bank, directed the raft toward the right side of the river,
which he had not yet approached. The maneuver was not accomplished
without certain difficulties, which were successfully overcome after
a good many resorts to the demijohn.

This allowed them to notice in passing some of those numerous lagoons
with black waters, which are distributed along the course of the