Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
16
In Hostile Territory, Part 1
Official Report of the Joint Boundary Commission
The Report of the Binational Boundary Commission
The description of the journey is best left to Euclides da Cunha himself, the main author.
What follows is the “official story” redacted as an inoffensive diplomatic document
jointly written by Buenaño and da Cunha in Manaus, although, given da Cunha's author-
ship, it was not without its ironies. A far more scabrous tale unfolds in his personal com-
munication with Baron Rio Branco, the unofficial story, which follows in
chapter 17
in
his “Purús confidential” report.
Carrying out our exact orders, the survey commission met in Manaus, verified each other's titles,
coordinatedourchronometers,andextendedourstayuntilthe5thofApril,whentheJointCommission
for the Reconnaissance of the Upper Purús set out in search of its destiny. This necessary delay was
occasioned by the exceedingly belated arrival of our instructions: these were received only a few days
beforeourdeparture.ThetimespentinManauswasdispiriting,callingintoquestionwhetherwecould
evencarryoutthevoyagewithwhichwewereentrustedwithinthetimelimitations.Thesetbackvastly
increased the obstacles: on so long a river when the channel drains, conditions for steam navigation
decline even as the distances that we would have to travel by canoe would increase. In spite of this,
we took advantage of the time to prepare the vessels in the best possible way—and both commissions,
wedded to an exact and speedy accomplishment of our task, were ready at the same time to proceed,
together, with what we could achieve of the preliminaries of our instructions.
Figure 16.1.
Officers of the Brazilian expedition. Da Cunha is third from the left at the back.
We left at the most inopportune time, exactly when regular navigation to the Upper Purús would
cease because, as is well known, steam travel is at the mercy of the flooding of the river from Novem-
ber to March and the draining outflows that follow from April to November. In spite of this, the ascent
to the confluence of the Rio Acre was uneventful, even though excessively slow.
The entire commission reunited at the confluence of the Acre and Purús Rivers at 7:00 a.m. on the
9th of April. The two
comissários
—head officers of the Peruvian and Brazilian missions—agreed to
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