Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ofthecommissionattheconfluenceoftheCavaljani,thelastofthedichotomousbranchings,sochar-
acteristic of the Purús.
We were finally at the point of the great river where we advanced to places that had never been
scientifically explored. In fact Wm. Chandless, with his prodigious tenacity, only came up to here but
did not proceed in the direction that we were about to embark on. He advanced on the northernmost
branch and up just a few miles, while we would proceed in a path that inverted directly to the south.
This circumstance contributed in no small way to our renewed excitement. It was really but a long
stretchofthePurús,certainly wellknownbyallthelocal
caucheiros
,butithadn'tappearedyetinthe
geographic sciences, and we noted the first and perhaps only mistake of the illustrious Chandless: he
traced the Cavaljani with a completely false direction, from the east to the west.
This little tributary was, however, almost totally lacking in water and needed other means for the
ascent. The Peruvians took advantage of the small
ubás
commandeered from the mail delivery from
Iquitos, whom we encountered at our last encampment, and this permitted them to cede one of their
old
ubás
to the Brazilian Commission, since these were much more appropriate to the river condi-
tions than the heavy canoes of
itaúba
wood in which they had been traveling. But even with these
modifications, the journey was made only with extraordinary exertion. Except for very few sections,
inthebackwashesthatwerescatteredthroughtherivercourse,theboatsmostlyhadtobehauledover
the sandbars with an arduous dragging until we reached the confluence of the Pucani (August 3), the
southernmost branch to the Purús. It was sometimes necessary to cut staves of a special plant called
oars for levers, slowly, painfully rolling our boats gradually upstream through long sections of dry
channel. In this way, the short itinerary of 20 km required three and a half days, which is about three
miles a day.
Arrivingonthe3rdofAugustattheconfluenceofthePucani,whichclearlyisthemostsouthernof
all the sources of the Purús, we did not delay our exploration of the
varadouro
, which we did easily
on the 3rd, the Peruvians on the 4th, and we returned at once, with a speed imposed by the lash of
hunger, to Forquilha, where, reunited again on the 10th of August, the two parts of the commission
agreed about the execution of the last part of their expedition, the ascent of the Curiúja River.
The outflow of this river was in its most intense phase, and it was clear that no boats other than the
ubás
would be able to navigate its diminished waters. The same thing happened as occurred before
with our trek up the Cujar River: all concurred that the ascent was impossible, but unlike with the
previous river, we soon saw that with the rapid drop in water levels no victorious ascent would be
forthcoming, And in any case the food supply of the Brazilians was frankly completely depleted: in
that locality one could only find a bit a of manioc, and on this one could only subsist for a short time,
as it was inadequate as the only foodstuff.
In spite of this, with the last bit of our remaining strength, the Joint Commission left for the last
little section of the river that remained to be discovered on the 14th of August. The Brazilian Com-
mission,facedwiththeseriousproblemoffeedingitsstarvingpersonnel,hadrationsforbutfivedays
at the most, so they set forth with the intent of a swift advance and equally rapid return. This was the
only solution to the painful and irredeemable conjuncture at which they found themselves.
We could only press forward if open navigation on the Curiúja were feasible, and it absolutely was
impossible in that period. The low-water river periodically divided itself between extensive swamps,
dissected at times by the sandbars that abounded and either dominated the riverbed or opened into
narrowchutesthatpressedagainstthebluffsandriverterraces;thesebroughtintosharprelieftwode-
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