 Section 23 of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission by Canje du Rondon, translated by R.G. Reidy and Edwin Murray. Third Lecture, Part 10. The reconnaissance of the river Sangui was affected by Lieutenant Vicente de Paula Vasconcelos, assisted by Dr. Serapion. For this purpose, an exploring expedition was formed, which left on the 10th of May of the current year, from the point where the Telegraph Line crossed that river, descended it, embarked in two canoes as far as its mouth, in the Juruéna, where he arrived on the last day of the following month. The total course run in these 71 days traveling consisted of 425,400 meters, as set out by the topographical survey obtained with the assistance of a telemeter. By these figures, one can see that the result of navigation did not attain per day an average of 9 kilometers, and this figure is, by itself, sufficiently eloquent to dispenses of here enumerating the series of obstacles which had to be overcome by Lieutenant Vasconcelos, amongst which are a number of rapids and two important falls beyond the inevitable accidents of shipwreck and loss of craft. The measurements gave for the discharge of the river studied, at the point of embarkation, a volume of 118 cubic meters, and at its mouth, more than 360. With regard to the mouths of the two principal affluence, the Lieutenant Vasconcelos arrived at that of the Sacuriú Iná, on the 6th of June, a little more than 100 kilometers from Paso da Linha, and that of the Cravarí, 6 days afterwards, at 139 kilometers below the previous one. The discharge of the first river was, at the time, 59 cubic meters, through a mouth of 49 meters wide. That of the second was 101 cubic meters, with a width of 52 meters. The most important incident of all was the meeting of Lieutenant Vasconcelos with a few groups of Indians of the tribe living in the lower portion of the course of the river Sanghi. Only after having passed the mouth of the Sacuriú Iná had the distinguished officer the opportunity of verifying that the river was inhabited. In order to remain more faithful to the exposition of these interesting episodes, I will here read the topics in which that officer refers to them in his report on this voyage. On the 9th of June, he says, an important note offered itself to us. We saw the first Indian. In a loop of the river, sitting on a dry tree, fallen over towards the bank of the river, there he was, with his arrow in hand, amusing himself fishing. I had not the pleasure of seeing him, not even from afar off, because with the noise which our craft made, and the shouts of António Correia, the prowlment of the sighting canoe crying out to call my attention, he was disturbed and in turn himself swiftly into the woods. At the point where he was seen, I landed. I beat about the bush, but saw nothing except a few sticks broken here and there. A little before, we found an old resting place of the Indians whose stakes had been cut with a blunt knife. On the following day, we saw a cluster of woods, also old, the trees of which had been cut with a stone axe. This was the first encounter noted by Lieutenant Vasconcelos, even before that of the cravarí. But after passing the mouth of this river, another one took place, which is told by that officer in the following words. The signs of Indians, limited until then, almost exclusively to the encounter of the fishermen, were becoming more frequent and more recent, and we noted that all of them used our implements. On the 19th, we bivouacked on the right bank in a large and not very old camp belonging to them, and where they passed some time occupied in hunting and fishing. For behind the bank and to a great extent, there is a lagoon, most certainly rich in fish and wild ducks, of which we saw various specimens. We were, in fact, not far from the Indians, and the most interesting episode of the whole expedition was about to commence on the following day, in which we camped on the left bank at almost 317 km from Passo da Linha and 108 from the Juruena, well in front of a largely inhabited village overlooking the river on the top of a small hill. We had effected 12 km of survey, when those in the sighting canoe were aroused by shouts and laughter coming from the Indians, who further down were amusing themselves by eating. We proceeded to the front one, more station, in order to get closer up. We interrupted the work we were doing, and pronouncing some nyambiquara words, which occurred to us at the time, we went on rowing down, with the intention of selecting a spot suitable for a bivouac, inasmuch as our desire was then entirely to enter into friendly relationship with those poor people. We were very fortunate in our purpose, for as we effected our crossing over to the left bank, we immediately caught sight of a clearing on that bank, in front of the landing stage of the Maloca, and where the Indians were still amusing themselves. Taken unawares and not suspecting an importune visit, above all coming by water, and still more from upstream, they never even noticed that we were near them. We announced our presence, as soon as they heard our first yell, they naturally saw our canoes and became absolutely silent. If it were not for the smoke which came from the Maloca and rose above the wood, and still more the thatched roof of the hut, which could only be seen from afar through the coping of the cluster of trees, no one passing by that spot at that moment would suppose that below each tree a human heart was throbbing. Having terminated the first work of the installation of our camp, I took a canoe manned by three men, and we went to make a small reconnaissance downstream, with the intention, above all, of ascertaining as to whether we could get a better view of the hut. We had descended a little more or less 150 meters, when we saw on the surface of the waters hugging the right bank at a small landing stage a Uba, which was flooded. We directed ourselves to this spot in order to examine more carefully this primitive craft used by the Indians, in which consists of a big piece of the bark of a tree, the extremities being turned up to form the bow and the stern. A few stays of wood across same in its width in order to avoid the bark doubling too and nothing more. It is in fact perfectly identical to those used by the Parnawatts. Having made this short examination of the Uba, and as we verified that the Maloca was entirely hidden by the trees, we decided to go upstream hugging the right bank to see whether we could discover something new. The canoe man had scarcely given their first strokes to their paddles, when behold, two arrows whistled past our ears, one after the other. Fortunately they missed their mark and were lost in the river. The fright which we underwent was not small, and I believe that the canoe man never paddled so quickly, so much that they almost swamped the canoe, which being very heavily laden did not respond to the haste which we had to gain the opposite bank. Those who had remained in the Bivouac and who had not lost sight of us in that evolution were observing everything and became alarmed, but they could see that the arrows had passed over our heads without hitting us. On arriving at the Bivouac, we left for our canoes and recommended our shouts. The reply obtained however was always the same, silence. We then resolved to make a new attempt. This time we would go to their landing stage opposite ours, and there we would leave axes and short swords for, by this means, they would see that our intentions were still pacific, in spite of the attack which we had suffered, and that they had nothing to fear from us. We took these with us and directed ourselves carefully towards the bank of the river. Still on this occasion we were not well received. On approaching the landing stage, two more arrows were shot at us. Fortunately, by the first ones, they missed their target. We returned hastily to our Bivouac without having succeeded once again to collect the arrows which were immediately carried away by the current. Some moments after this second unsuccessful attempt, the Indians allowed themselves to be finally seen at various points on the bank of the river, richly adorned with their feather garments of many colors amongst which predominated those of the Aradas. They were armed with bows and handfuls of arrows and yelled out similarly to the shouts which had used to call them, imitating us perfectly. We immediately directed ourselves to the landing stage. From the canoes we replied to the yells of the Indians. And in a very short space of time we became familiarized and left together, mocking each other, imitating the song and chirps of well-known birds. In a short time we were both parties in frank conversation in which one repeated what the other said and nobody understood the other. As this was going on one could hear in the malloca a nasal chant of many voices, accompanied by regular stamping of feet and the sounds of some primitive instrument. Of all this show and having in view the previous occurrences we concluded that that was a war chant, notwithstanding the gentle manner with which some, and above all one, which we supposed to be the chief, endeavored to imitate what we said. However, a few moments having passed, he who appeared to us to be the chief, having beside him a woman, took a few steps in front of the group which encircled him, and arriving as far as the brink of the river where he remained entirely uncovered, presented us with his son, a boy from four to five years of age, holding him by his wrists and lifting him up from the ground several times. We were delighted with that jest, interpreting it as being a promise of firm peace, and we immediately took to the canoe. We approximated ourselves little by little. Whilst we were maneuvering and paddling, we showed them the axis and the swords without interrupting the conversation which both parties were holding most enthusiastically. We did not lose their slightest movement, at least that which we could devise, because in spite of everything we did, as soon as we got into the canoes, retired a little behind the trees. We were about 30 meters from them when they again aimed and shot off their arrows. As on previous occasions, we maneuvered as quickly as possible, turning our canoes towards our bevwack. On this occasion, the arrows shot off were four in number, of which we were able to get one. In view of these happenings, we found it prudent to attempt nothing further on that day. We therefore agreed to let the following day pass to see whether we would be more fortunate later on. Now dusk was falling, and we could do nothing better than contemplate them through our field glasses. They are good-looking men and strongly built. I think there is no doubt that they are in Yamikwadesh. They use arrows like theirs, with the difference that the directing feathers are disposed in the form of a screw. The men are decked for their defence, and dressed with hangings made out of fibre. The women carry nothing more than necklaces and bracelets, which are also used by the men. They paint themselves, one I saw with three lines of white and black dye on his wrists, and another had his face all smeared with white. We counted in all 12 men, perfectly armed and adorned. We only saw one Indian woman, the one that accompanied her husband when he presented us with the boy. She was young, beautiful, a good figure and tall. The others, the old women and the children, formed a chorus, which we could hear. We also observed a small plantation close to the Maloka, for we distinguished between the openings and the copings of the trees and above the hill, banana trees, and the foliage of the manyok plant. Of the hut, we could see nothing, not even the shape. The project of remaining in the bivouac of the village on the 21st for the exclusive purpose of establishing friendly relations with these poor people was only a hope. After the third and last attempt, they became still more amiable. They repeated what we said and laughed heartily. They went to fetch a shirt with which they dressed the boy and with a sword, the same as ours, opened a small landing place, cutting the branches which descended almost to the surface of the water, and there they stretched out a net. We thought that they wished to please us, showing us articles which had belonged to us. However, they were up to a new strategy, destined to distract us and inspire us with confidence. And the proof of this we had on the morning of the 21st. During the night, they crossed over to our side, using for this purpose an uba, and completely enveloped us, awaiting for the dawn of the next day in order to open the attack. As usual, at 5 a.m. we commenced work. We directed ourselves to the canoes and cried out, calling various times, but in vain. We thought that they were still asleep, owing to the cold weather and to the darkness and mist which was falling. With all, we did not fail to take notice of their silence which caused the suspicion. Far from us was it to be supposed that we were surrounded by them. We returned undercover and made coffee. At this moment, behold, there fell upon us from all sides a regular shower of arrows, accompanied by the loud noise of their voices and the helter-skelter of the Indians closing in upon us rapidly with their sure shots. Attacked in this way, almost unawares, we were not a little upset. My personnel frightened ran to take cover where I was yelling, Indians, arrows! I immediately got out of cover, having previously got hold of my shotgun which I had with me, ordering them not to run and telling them to fire into the air. I myself fired the first shot, and it was this that saved us. The personnel with fright and the recommendations which I had given not to fire had dropped their arms. With the report of the gun, the Indians got frightened and ran, and more or less calm was then re-established amongst us. It was a pity that the effect of this occurrence did not only remain in the fright which we had passed. Two men were wounded. One slightly, Antonio Correia, struck in the vertebral column below the neck where the arrow penetrated only three or four millimeters. The other, unfortunately, received a more serious wound. This was Marcelino Borges, who, poor fellow, had no luck during expedition. He was bitten by a snake. He was shipwrecked while still ill, and, lastly, received this arrow. He struck him in the thigh, piercing it as far as the Iliac region. He remained a very short time standing, owing to the pain and abundant hemorrhage. Dr. Serapion did the necessary dressings which both cases exacted. In view of the attitude of the Indians and bearing in mind our position, we decided to break down the camp without loss of time and to proceed on the topographical service. While the necessary dressing was being done, and the canoes were being loaded, we made a small inspection of the surroundings, verifying the position occupied by the assailants on the occasion of the attack. We then saw that they were short of entering the small area of our bivouac, for the line of attack arrived at less than thirty meters from our tents. Some of them frightened at the shots, dropped their arrows, and one of them, also his bow. These were collected by us, many others being lost in the river. The plan of attack was well conceived, above, below, and from one of the sides they placed themselves frankly resolved to annihilate us. On the other side was the river. In case anyone wished to escape by saying, we could not go very far, because above and below there were groups of warriors, as well as on the opposite bank, where it would be madness to procure refuge. The banks were therefore protected, no one could consequently get close to them without risking his life. We remained therefore deprived of proceeding with a survey with the telemeter. He had to use, in order to calculate our distances, the speed of our canoes. I sent the ferry ref down with the sick man and following it the sighting canoe, whilst I went upstream with mine as far as the point at which we had left service on the previous day, where we recommend the survey. The Indians gave no further signs of themselves. They let the two canoes pass by. But when our turn came, on facing the mouth of a small igarapé existing a few meters below the bivouac, they fired a shower of arrows over us. We then saw at this point and close up to the opening produced by the bar of the igarapé, the group which had attacked us, also the uba. In order to calm the crew of the canoe, and above all to avoid that some of them frightened to throw themselves into the water, I also bled to fire two shots into the air. The Indians with this did not seem to worry themselves very much. They commenced to mock our exclamations, calling us and laughing heartily at our situation. For safety's sake, we carried out this work midstream by means of the velocity and thus continued for eight kilometers, at the end of which we found an island to which we moored. We then met together and reorganized our march to continue from there with the survey by telemeters. Before abandoning the camp of the village, we left, as a token of our farewell, some axes and swords placed on a small platform. From the narrative of this interesting episode, in which one can see at the same time a striking example of the methods and procedure adopted by the Telegraph Lions Commission in the relations with the indigenous tribes found in the wilds in which it had to operate and the calm and resolute courage of the officer who directed the action, impressing it with the seal of such high chivalry, it must be inferred that Lieutenian Vasconcelos supposed that the Indians of the lower course of the river Sanghi belonged to the Nyambi Kuala Nation. Such a supposition, however, must be rejected, not only from the fact that Lieutenian Vasconcelos himself had not heard from those Indians a single word of the Nyambi Kuala vocabulary, as also and principally by the verification that the Indians in question possessed habits and customs which absolutely do not coincide with those of our known dwellers of the zone comprised between the Juruenna, the Comemoração de Floriano, and the headwaters of the Roosevelt. Besides the difference noted in the course of the narrative with regard to the manner of placing the directing feathers for the flight of the arrows, there is yet that which results from the use of the net and of the practice of navigation. It is already known that the Nyambi Kualas lay themselves down to sleep directly on the ground without any other care than that of selecting for this purpose places covered with sand that for their transports by water which are limited to simple passing from one bank to the other of the rivers they use nothing more than some floaters made out of the buddhi-chi palm with which they help their swimming. Contrary to this, the dwellers of the river Sanghi sleep in hammocks which they must necessarily make themselves and furthermore they know how to build Ubaas and to utilize them. In this last feature we are led to believe that they belong to the ethnographic group of the Tupis and possess as it is known a civilization much more advanced than the Jis. We cannot at present determine the tribe from which these may have separated neither the epoch in which this may have taken place but we are certain that with them occur the same thing as with the Parnawas who are part of the old Tupi tribe which, in times gone by, interned itself in the wilderness occupied by nations of another origin and there settled and held itself aloof from the other people belonging to an entirely different civilization to theirs. To many other facts of great geographic importance contained in the report of Lieutenant Vasconcelos on the valley of the river Sanghi, I will not refer on this occasion for absolute want of time. I will only mention that from the collection of the samples of rocks brought from there by this officer the geologist Dr. Elzebio de Oliveira, who has studied same, concluded that the erinitic formation of the Plateau dos Pareciches rests before the mouth of the river in question on crystalline and eruptive rocks. End of section 23. Section 24 of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission by Cange du Hondon translated by R. G. Reidy and Edwin Murray. Third lecture, Part 11. In order to terminate the description of the eastern watershed of the basin of the Juruena, there only remains for us to consider the Alinus and its tributaries. It is a well-known fact that since the colonial days the navigation of this river was studied in the hope of utilizing it together with the Tapajois as a means of establishing direct communication between Mato Grosso and Pará. The first attempt was made in 1746 by the Sargento Morjuão de Souza Zevedo, who, having ascended the Paraguay and afterwards the Seputuba, portaged his canoes by land until he arrived at a river to which he gave the name of Sumidoro, owing to the fact that a portion of its respective bed had sunk beneath a mound of a width of 3 km. From the upper part of this tunnel, the intrepid Portuguese explorer let loose his canoes with wide borders at the discretion of the current by which they were carried and caused them to appear intact according to the statement of Ricardo Franco on the other side of the mound. From there, Souza Zevedo continued to descend the Sumidoro, which took him to the Alinus and this river led him to the Juruena and to the Tapajóis, whence he penetrated into the Amazon and arrived at Belém do Pará. But the difficulties offered to navigation in the section of the Tapajóis where the waterfalls exist are of such importance that Souza Zevedo did not attempt to return by the same way and in order to return from Belém to Mato Grosso he preferred the longer route by the Amazon, Madeira and Guapore. The corporal Manuel Gomes de Souza in 1805 instructed by the governor Alves Meneses affected for the second time the same journey but like his predecessor he considered the route impracticable for the return journey. It was only in 1812 that the Alinus and the Tapajós were navigated successively up and down by António Tomé de Souza and Miguel João de Souza who had the glory of being the initiators of this means of internal communication in our country. The traffic, however, after continuing for some time, seized completely. Beyond this navigation of purely commercial purposes the Alinus and the Tapajós were also visited by the expedition of Count de Landstorf who studied both scientifically in 1827 and that of the geographer William Chandles which took place in 1861. But the elements collected by the first were never published and those of the second whilst constituting the essence of all the information which we possessed up to that time with regard to these rivers did not, however, comprise the total course of the Alinus. Neither did they give a regular topographical plan of same and still less of its levels. As it was necessary to eliminate from the geography of our country such a considerable failing I commissioned Lieutenant Júlio Caetano Horta Barbosa in 1914 to organize an expeditionary party with which he should leave Cuiabá for the headwaters of the Alinus and descend this river, exploring it carefully so as to give us a complete and rigorous description of its entire course. Having organized a party with 14 workmen, a physician, Dr. João Meira and a naturalist, Mr. João Geraldo Cullman Lieutenant Júlio Caetano left the capital of Mato Grosso on the 17th of October of last year in the direction of Brotas, Guia and Rosario which, as we know, are situated in the valley of the river Cuiabá to the east of the Serra do Tomador. After Rosario, but before Diamantino the telegraph line, which the members of the expedition were following crosses the headwaters of the Ribeirão da Serragem a tributary of the right bank of the Cuiabá. It was from the bridge over this crossing that Lieutenant Júlio Caetano commenced the studies with which he was entrusted and the first part of which consisted in reconnoituring the headwaters of this river. Having passed the Cuiabó and the Cuiabazim its affluence of the right bank the expedition crossed the two principal feeders of the Cuiabá, respectively called Cuiabá da Larga and Cuiabá do Bonito the point of confluence of which is at a distance of 196,600 meters from the bridge over the Ribeirão da Serragem. The headwaters of these two feeders run in opposite directions from those of the first with the rivers Genipapeiro and Pialas feeder of the telespeeders and those of the second with the river Beijaflor an affluent of the telespeeders and the river Novo, the principal branch of the Arinos. From the valley of the Cuiabá do Bonito the attendant Júlio Caetano passed over to that of the river Telespeeders where he went over the polygon determined by the headwaters known as Corrego Fundo Beijaflor, Mutum, Verde and others and finally arrived on the 9th of October at the plain whence flows the river Novo. Proceeding with the studies still by land the attendant Júlio Caetano reached the point of the confluence of this river with the branch which comes right from the source with the name of Arinos and on taking the necessary measurements he found for this river a width of 30 meters and a discharge per second of 3,938 liters and for the former a width of 28 meters and a discharge of 30,744 liters. The considerable superiority of this last volume combined with a larger extension in the direction of the course which prolongs that of the main river give to the river Novo the necessary characteristics for it to be considered not a simple affluent of the other branch but the superior part of the main collector of this basin. Against the above mentioned elements the size of and the choice of the principal branch of a river, the anthropogiographical consideration which consists in the fact that the dwellers of the locality usually point out the other branch as being the preponderant cannot prevail and it became however necessary to make in the books and maps a fraction now indicated by these data. From the bridge over the Hibéron da Serragin as far as the confluence of the two branches of the Arinos, the topographical survey revealed a journey of 447,000 meters. There the exploration by the river was initiated and was continued as far as the entrance into the Juruina. From the bulk of the work done resulted not only the extension of the Arinos becoming known which is 828,364 meters but also all the affluence of both banks its waterfalls and rapids the barometric leveling of its bed the geographical coordinates obtained from astronomical observations from five known points of its course the constitution of its flora and that of its soil studied by Dr. Elzebio Joliveira on samples of rock brought to this capital by Lieutenant Jolio Caetano. Of the affluence noted I will mention the following as they are the most important. From the right bank, the Hibéron da Prata the river dos Spátus whose width at the mouth is 23.5 meters discharging a volume of 2,686 meters per second the Marapó or San Cozmi with a width of 30 meters a volume of 30,137 liters and at whose mouth, Lieutenant Jolio Caetano registered the last recent vestiges which he had been encountering from the headwaters of the presence of Indians probably the Bacairis the Tapauninha with a width of 18 meters and a volume of 12,600 liters the Pari or São Miguel having a width of 27.5 meters at the mouth and discharging 32,503 liters the Peixis or as the Apiacas called it the Itamiami of 110 meters width with a volume of 249,043 liters and finally a Hibéron to which Lieutenant Jolio Caetano gave the name of Apiacas below the falls called by Antônio Tomé Três Irmães, three sisters as according to his words it is divided into three interrupted streams from the left bank the Arinos received the River Preto whose mouth measures 20 meters in width and whose discharge is 8,033 liters per second the telegraph line passes close to the headwaters feeding this river the Sumidouro of which Lieutenant Jolio Caetano ascended and surveyed a section of 36,854 meters and measured the mouth and the volume finding for the first a width of 55 meters and for the second 213,554 liters the headwaters of this river is cut by the telegraph line after passing the Patissies station at a point in which it already presents itself with a width of 10 meters the River Patissies with a width of 37 meters at the mouth the Tapanuna with a width of 37 meters and a volume of 78,742 liters and finally the Sarare whose mouth is to be found almost immediately after the largest waterfall of the Arinos called by Antonio Tomé Recife Grande the navigation for the study of the Arinos begun on the 29th of November only terminated on the 29th of December the date on which Lieutenant Jolio Caetano's expedition entered the Juruena and commenced to descend same facing the troubles and dangers of the section of the waterfalls which made it practically impossible to use this river above the Tapajois as a means of communication in order to give an example of the nature of these obstacles I will cite at random the following passage from Lieutenant Jolio Caetano's report referring to one of these on the third we marched fairly well up to 12 o'clock we then entered over travessoins and rapids which are to be found above the San João da Barra waterfall at 1.25 pm we were 1,471 meters from the port where we were to rest at the crest of the waterfall however it was only at 6 o'clock in the evening that we arrived there this is a very dangerous section owing to the condition of the river at the time the waters rushed wildly and were very agitated making a terrible noise we had to pass first clinging on to the rocks which form a strong scarf on the left bank and afterwards holding on to a rope held by a man who jumped from one boulder to the other whilst another with a long rod kept the canoes impaled by the waters from beating against the rocks later this became impossible and then while some with hooks from the inside of the canoes surged for some salience on the slippery rocks to secure a sane and not let the canoes precipitate themselves below with the current others with rods avoided them being knocked up against the rocks after a number of frights and much labor we succeeded at last in arriving at the place where we were to stop so as to transport the baggage by land to below the waterfalls which we did having previously tied up the empty canoes by the bow and stern with short hausers this work was only concluded after 8pm under a downfall of rain for the cargo had to be carried over a mound of almost 10 meters in height and of difficult access on the following day we ascertained that the hausers which were holding the barges had given way during the night fortunately of this craft one barge was found below the waterfall in calm water and the loss of the other made no great difference to us for the consumption of the victuals had greatly diminished our baggage we will still cite the following passage from the same report next to the waterfall of Santa Iria there is that of Santa Ursula more dangerous still than the previous one and where the canaldo inferno is to be found the river passed through a canyon and below in a short curve closely confined between rocks of from 7 to 10 meters in height the watchers beat against the boulders of the banks and form large whirlpools which troll one after the other and the entire width of the river they continually fall to pieces with a thundering noise leaving on the surface the whitish surf of stormy waters this is the Misericohaja waterfall formed by enormous and dangerous curves and rapids the banks are composed of high rocks that only leave a width of 90 meters for the passage of all that volume of water which, above the south Augusto extends itself on an average with a width of more than one kilometer overcoming all the difficulties of navigation in such turbulent waters the members of the expedition arrived on the 18th of January of the current year at the revenue office of the state of Matugrusu immediately below the bar of the river Teli-Spiris hence, Lieutenant Julio Caetano with five men of his expedition directed himself to the port of Airi Velho on the Tapajóis for the purpose of reconnoitering and serving a portage road to the river Socunduri here are the words in which this officer himself refers to the objective of this undertaking and the result of his studies some of the dwellers on the banks of the Tapajós were very desirous of opening up by this portage road a route for automobiles so as to get round the big falls of the Tapajóis a similar road would bring enormous advantage to the industrious people of the San Manuel and the upper Tapajóis but this would only be convenient if it were inexpensive if it came out below all the waterfalls of the Socunduri and if at this point this river were open to navigation during the whole of the year none of these conditions existed however the country is very mountainous full of small rivers and swamps and would render the construction of the proposed road extremely expensive and besides this the bar of the Medici is above the last waterfalls of the Socunduri which in its turn is not navigable during the whole of the year except by small craft and especially now that the navigation of the Tapajóis is being carried out in gasoline motor launches with great economy of time it appears to be more economical and advantageous to adapt the traffic of automobiles to the cart road already existing between Pimental and Bella Vista with an extension of 17700 meters or the construction of a narrow gorge railway in this section the only one which cannot be crossed by the craft a study and survey of the portage road in question which could not be carried out in 1911 by an European explorer whose name has on many occasions been cited in the newspaper of this capital was easily executed in the space of 12 days by Lieutenant Giulio Caetano this work measured 67,200 meters divided into two sections the first of 49,700 meters extends from the port to the Igarapé-Merici whose mouth gave a width of 15 meters and a volume of 1,610 liters of water and the second of 17,300 meters joins the above-mentioned Igarapé to the river Socolouris on the completion of this service the members of the Arinos expedition continue to descend the Tapajóis up to the Porte de Saint-Louis where they arrived on the 15th of February and from there left for the city of Santarém embarking in a steamer of the regular service of the Amazonas Tapajóis line taken on the whole the work carried out by Lieutenant Giulio Caetano on this expedition comprised of topographical survey alone the extension of 2,129 kilometers 923 meters of which apart to the extent of a little less than 514 kilometers was done on foot and all the rest by the river this enormous effort finished at the end of 4 months starting from the day on which he left the capital of Mato Grosso and he was so fortunate that it did not cost the life nor the health of a single member of the expedition with the conclusion of this undertaking the Telegraph Lines commission set the last touch to the work which it had initiated in 1907 that is to say of discovering and studying the river Juruena and the whole hydrographic basin which depends upon it considered however from a geographical point of view this work seemed to us to require an important compliment really the river to which we give the name of Juruena is the same as that which after receiving its contribution from the Telespiris Amazon with the name of Tapajóis one is a continuation of the other and probably the diversity of the names resulted only from the fact that the Portuguese discoverers had arrived at this great fluvial artery from the lower and from the upper part of its course those who came from the Amazon encountered for the first time its mouth naturally calling it after the name which the Indians on the banks of the Rio Mar know it others however had to guide themselves according to the information of the inhabitants of the highlands from which it springs and from whom probably it received a new name but whichever may be the origin and the reason of this duplicity of names and it is certain that the course Juruena Tapajóis forms one only geographical feature it continues intact just as much from a hydrographic geological and botanical point of view the description of the one therefore should never be considered complete unless it comprises that of the other we had really terminated the first but we did not consider that we could give our work as entirely finished whilst essential elements with regard to the second were wanting moreover even if we wish to see in the Juruena a simple feeder of the Tapajóis without any other name except that of its former someone well it is clear that the study of this should accompany the study of the other as a necessary complement of the plan which we were desires of organizing end of section 24 section 25 of the Roosevelt Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the Roosevelt Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission by Candido Rondon translated by R.G. Reedy and Edwin Murray third lecture part 12 having therefore decided to proceed with the exploration and the regular survey of the river Telus Pires in February next Lieutenant Antonio Pirineas de Sousa left from Tepira Poan at the head of an expeditionary column composed of six men a physician Dr. Alberto Moore and a naturalist Mr. Antonor Pires taking the direction of the Telegraph Station of Afonso's from the branch of the Baro dos Bugres the expedition ascended to the Chapadao dos Pareces passed by the place called Semsal to which I alluded in my first lecture in 1911 and from there reached the Ribierrao do Estivado the direct affluent from the left bank of the Arinos which is cut by the Telegraph Line from Cuyabá to the Medira from Estivado he continued by the divisor of the waters of the Arinos and of the Cuyabá joining his march to that of Lieutenant Julio Quetano and having reached the headwaters of the river Novo passed from there across a Chapadao of black soil covered by a Cerrado to the headwaters of the river Verde at a distance of two kilometers from the Yabab and already belonging to the hydrographical basin of the river Telis Pires from there commenced the studies which were the object of Lieutenant Pirinaeus's expedition to Piraeus for which the topographical survey registered a total extension of 1,386 kilometers from the last headwaters of the principal one of its feeders up to the point of the confluence with the Huruena is the result of the union of two branches the more important and the more northerly one rises in the Cerradoa Sul under the name of Parateninga which it keeps during its course of 124 kilometers at the end of which it arrives with a width of 34 meters its greatest depth being 5.5 meters and its volume 72 cubic meters discharged every second there it meets or rather receives the other branch to which I propose it should conserve its old name of Saumonwell taken from the trunk to which will be applied the name of the unfortunate Captain Telis Pires as a matter of fact the Saumonwell is nothing more or less than an affluent from the left bank of the Parateninga its course measures scarcely 74 kilometers in extension its width at the mouth is 25 meters its greatest depth 3.5 meters and the discharge 42 cubic meters the river Verde at whose headwaters Lieutenant Piraeus arrived after leaving those of the Novo is a tributary from the left bank of the Telis Pires from there the members of the expedition left for the confluence of the Saumonwell with the Paratinga which they ascended in Pirogas canoes made out of the bark of the Hatoba obtained in the Indian villages of the Bakaheres established at the port used by Van Den Stein and by Colonel Paulo Castro in order to cross the above mentioned river towards the Hingu thus assisted by the Indians Lieutenant Piraeus could get as far as the last headwaters of the Paratinga at a place where the dwellers of the wilds of this river do not go out of fear of meeting the Kayapos who they suppose live there and of whom they are afraid descending afterwards from these headwaters to the mouth Lieutenant Piraeus noted all the special features of the river Telis Piraeus and proceeded with the necessary work for the future drawing of the topographical chart the description of its fauna forests and soil the number of affluence registered and measured in the whole length of its course reaches 25 of which many are still without names of these the most important are from the right bank the river Kayopo with a volume of 62 cubic meters and a width of 30 meters the celeste 751 kilometers from the headwaters of the Paratinga with a width of 33 meters and an average discharge of 33 cubic meters the Pikesoto de Acevedo whose name was given by Lieutenant Piraeus in homage to the memory of the first explorer of the former Salmanuel with a width of 42 meters and a discharge of 17 cubic meters it is a river of dark and motionless waters the Cristallino named for the first time with a width of 55 meters and a discharge of 154 cubic meters it is 1019 kilometers from the headwaters of the Paratinga the Sao Benedicto with a width of 102 meters and a volume of 103 cubic meters the Kuru Roo with a width of 75 meters at the mouth and a volume of 89 on the left bank the River Verde 656 kilometers from the headwaters of the Paratinga with 90 meters at the mouth and 202 cubic meters discharge it is the largest of the feeders of the Telus Piraeus with regard to the waterfalls Lieutenant Piraeus noted and described 35 of which 13 exist in the river Paratinga and with regard to absolute falls they are not more than 3 in number the first called Magasi is at 339 kilometers from the principal headwaters and is formed by 3 successive falls giving a total change of level of 13.5 meters below this on the left bank below which was visited by Lieutenant Piraeus who then found there the inscription with the name Telus and a date of 1889 carved in a stone above the fall the width of the river is 102 meters and its depth almost reaches 6.5 after it however these measures are increased respectively to 150 and to 17 meters this height having been found there are 12 falls which are formed there at this place Lieutenant Piraeus fished a Paraiiba which measured 1 meter and 90 centimeters in length 11 kilometers after passing the Sete Kedas Lieutenant Piraeus' expedition met the third and last fall of the river which he was exploring this is the old Salto Tavares having 12 successive terraces which reach out the expansion of 4 kilometers forming the sole serious obstacle against navigation it does not however render it impossible this is the fall where on the 3rd of May 1890 the shipwreck and death of the unfortunate captain Antonio Lorenzo Telus Piraeus occurred and whose expedition lost at this place all the resources which it possessed and which rendered it impossible for the then Lieutenant Miranda adjudant and devoted companion to that chief to proceed on the journey and to come out on the Tapa Hose we all still remember quite well the sad catastrophe and the martyrdom undergone at the time by the survivors thrown on the banks of the river deprived of any means of action for lack of implements which had been lost and exhausted by fever and by the horrors of hunger we still remember further that it was only due to the diligent solicitude of another officer of our army a friend and companion of the above named the present General Jimeno Villaroy that we are indebted for having been spared the extra sorrow of which we were threatened and of which he saved us by sending out from Manaos where he had assumed the government of the state as the delegate of the provisional government of the Republic recently proclaimed in our country a rescue expedition which after ascending the Tapa Hose and the old Sao Manoel succeeded in arriving in time to snatch from death the few still surviving members of the unfortunate expedition at 769 kilometers below this the river Telus Pires forms another fall known under the name of Sete Kedas since the days of the voyage of exploration of the lieutenant of the militia Peixoto de Acevedo the canoes are able to cross this fall easily for it does not offer any difficulty to navigation if the appeal which I have addressed to you Mr. President of the Geographical Society and to your worthy co-associates in the sense that you should accept as your own and recommend to the geographers of our country the idea of rendering homage to the memory of the much regretted Captain Telus Pires should meet with your approval this fall will hence-forward be honored in being designated by the illustrious name of Oscar de Miranda leaving out other information of geographical value collected by the expedition under Lieutenant Pirineas because for this the time at my disposal would not be sufficient I shall make a rapid allusion to the indigenous tribes found at Telus Pires in the first place I shall cite the Kayabis although this primacy does not pertain to them after the chronological order in which they were met it was only after passing the mouth of the river Verde and before the falls of the Cete Kedas on the waterfalls called Coata that the first village of these Indians was observed but from this point downwards five more were noted Lieutenant Pirineas informs me that the Kayabis are strong Indians fairly tall good canoe men and great planters of corn, monkey nuts maniac, potatoes and other useful plants such as cotton neither the men nor the women use any sort of clothing they weave cotton to make their hammocks in which they sleep and the sashes some narrow and short for their hips which they use after in Bikara fashion they pierce their ears and use very interesting earrings they allow their hair to grow and have the habit of tying it up at the back of the head the women pull out the hair on their bodies they use to offer the produce of their plantations in exchange for axes, apinaco machetes, apinum clothes and principally for hats they are much afraid of firearms but are perhaps still more fearsome of being poisoned it is certainly in order to avoid this danger that they rejected all the food which was offered to them by the expedition always on the pretense that they were suffering from their teeth not withstanding that they possessed these in a magnificent condition at first says Lieutenant Pirineas quote the Kayabis afforded me a good reception the vision of axes and of machetes was exhausted they began to attack me at the falls and at other places difficult to cross it was however sufficient to cause our guns to be fired for them to run off and leave us in peace after the waterfalls they attempted a night attack against our Bivouac probably armed with clubs I avoided it however by transporting myself at night with my personnel and baggage to the other side of the river I had four assaults which I prudently avoided in order not to cause them any harm and I endeavored to make them understand that I was going to return bringing them apinacos axes and apinim machetes on the night when I moved my camp passing from one side to the other without being seen I avoided a struggle which one of their chiefs wished to provoke entering into the water with his bow and arrows and threatening with loud shouts while he was given up to this mad bravado from the interior of the woods on both sides the war cries became greater coming from many men whom we did not see on arriving at the opposite bank we tied up our canoes and remained in them awaiting events in the morning we perceived that the Indians were penetrating into the abandoned camp and were beating all around it screaming which served them more for the purpose of animating them rather than a frightening the adversary they were certainly very much upset when they found out the trick which had been played upon them end quote such are the episodes which occurred among the Indians called Kaya-bis or Kaha-bis in Lieutenant Pyrenees' expedition or however this officer had been in the villages of the Baka-yiris of whom he gives us the following information quote below the bars of the Sao-Manuel and of the Kaya-po I met the Baka-hiri Indians who lived there in three Malokas one belonging to the old captain Antonino who served as a guide to the German expedition to reach the headwaters of the Hingu the other belonged to Captain Arutu who two years ago had come from that river accompanied by a great number of Indians who had almost all died from influenza and Fetico on arrival at Telus Pires and finally the third belonging to Capitao Jose Coroado the son of the celebrated Indian woman Rosa who died in January 1813 in this same village the Baka-hiri's are half civilized and suffer a good deal from the bad treatment of the rubber-tappers who explore their work in tapping rubber-trees in breeding cattle and on their plantations they constantly make voyages to the Hingu in order to visit the villages of their tribe which exist there on the Telus Pires their number is small and the tendency is to their complete disappearance in consequence of the slavery to which they are reduced by the rubber-tappers and other dwellers on the river who explore and vitiate them end quote of all these facts all of them equally interesting there is one which requires special mention that is the one which refers to the Indian woman Rosa Baroro to the pen of a lady the wife of General Mello Rego we owe the fact of not having lost the remembrance of the great work rendered by that poor woman to her nation of origin and also to the great part of the population of the former province of Mato Grosso including that of the surroundings of Kuyaba for many years the Baroro tribe of the river Sao Lorenzo lived in open warfare against the civilized people whom they hostileized in terrible attacks in the interior of their houses and establishments killing many disorganizing the traffic on the rivers and on the roads and the work on numerous and important breeding estates where they played the greatest havoc for such evil the president of the province found no remedy except the organizing of a war of reprisal having in view the extermination of the Indians the direction of the formidable beats which were then commenced was entrusted to Lieutenant Duarte a brave and decided man but incapable of liberating himself of the illusionary fascination which springs up from the idea that the value of physical force is absolute to smooth over the disorders which arise amongst groups of human beings as the result of a different civilization prejudices of race letting loose of one's passions in fact that arise from a state of mind which conducted antiquity to place the foreigner and the enemy under the same heading one can easily imagine therefore to what point of cruelty arrived in a very short time the hostilities between the bororos and the contingent commanded by Lieutenant Duarte war was thus raging and from day to day it took larger proportions and recommends when suddenly among the Indians prisoners to Kuyaba and who lived there in masked slavery a young girl offered herself first and afterwards asked insistently to be permitted to accompany Lieutenant Duarte's expedition in one of his beats against the villages of her people she promised to cause the war to cease to save the rest of the persecuted nation and restore calm and quiet to the population of Kuyaba and to all the region ravaged by the raids of the warriors of the river Sao Lorenzo received at first without attention and afterwards with mistrust the bororo girl found a means nevertheless to persevere with such enthusiasm and fervor in this proposal that she finally succeeded in overcoming the general lack of interest and more still the pride of those who considered themselves so immensely superior to her it was difficult for them to admit the possibility of having to alter and to abandon their plans and their combinations in order to adopt those of a miserable Indian slave on one of his customary expeditions Lieutenant Duarte took with him the bororo girl on arriving at a certain spot on the river Sao Lorenzo stripping herself of her city clothes she interned herself into the forest and at the end of the number of days previously combined with the commander of the detachment she returned to the place where the latter was awaiting her bringing with her the Pague Maguera or the chief of the tribe of the bororos who came convinced by her to make peace and to become friendly with the civilized people represented in the person of the same man who up to then had persecuted them with untold of atrocities after this memorable act the pacific relations of that nation with the civilized people were never broken and the services which they have rendered in the swampy lands of the Paraguay are most valuable amongst others I will recall to you that which I myself received when I was entrusted with the construction of the telegraph lines of the south of Mato Grosso during a whole year the work effected by these Indians carried out by over five hundred of them who were incessantly at my orders the bororo girl to whom we owe this beautiful page of the history of our country who was the essence of the sweetness and kindness which is exhaled from those who tell the story without equal of the admirable marina so was this Rosa whose son, Lieutenant Pirineas met on the river Telus Pires who assisted him personally and with his people to take him to the highest headwaters of the Paranatinga on information received from Lieutenant Pirineas Rosa Bororo died in January of this year in a Bakahiri settlement of which her son was the chief her memory therefore still lives in the hearts of those who knew of her short and touching history and certainly the same will live whilst there is a Brazilian heart to vibrate with love and gratitude on recalling to mind the figure of whomever it may be large or small who may have given occasion by words, deeds or sentiments to inscribe in the pages of the history of the country one more trace which may contribute to the realization of the wish of the Maranao poet where he says I see a nation of heroes Mr. President of the Geographical Society I had promised you as well as your illustrious associates the data which appeared to me necessary to enable you to judge by its real value the nature and the extent of the services which you have attributed to me in the realization of the work carried to a successful end by the Telegraph Lines Commission from Mato Grosso to the Amazon I now consider fulfilled and completed the promise which I made although I have yet to refer to the work of considerable technical importance carried out by my distinguished assistants and which concur decisively to give to that work the touch of scientific exactness with which it is shown thus, for example, I have not described the astronomical service mounted in Cuyabá by Captain Renato Barbosa Rodriguez Pereira in direct correspondence with the Rio de Janeiro Observatory for the rigorous determination of the geographical coordinates of the principal points of the territory of Mato Grosso I would have in regard to this matter to refer to the means and the results already obtained on the Eastern Line with the friendly and competent assistants of Dr. Henrique Morise and Dr. Domingos Costa director and assistant of our National Observatory but in spite of such great failings the exposition which I here offer you and whose benevolent and honored acceptance I declare myself eternally grateful to the ladies and distinguished gentlemen of this audience as well as to you Mr. President of the Geographical Society it is sufficient to demonstrate to evidence that it is not to me but to the Brazilians represented by the governments of the four successive administrations of the Republic by the officers and soldiers of our valorous army and by the humble diligent efforts of the dwellers of the wilds which constitute the foundation of our nationality to them should be directed the homage of your thanks of your admiration for the gigantic work carried out in the wilds of our country to me nothing else is due except the satisfaction of being proud of being the son of such a country and of seeing my name associated with that of other sons who have devotedly served and loved the same but if persisting in the friendly violence of your goodwill you insist in wishing to transform in personal merit my pride of having cooperated for the raising up of our nationality I am forced to open up to you my heart and my soul to show you the real motives of all my sentiments and of all my strength the fountain whence spring the inspirations and the energy of my life the heroine who gave herself up to all sorts of privations and to all the hardships of long and repeated absences to all the worry and imagining by thought all these privations and terrible risks to which I have placed myself for more than 25 years in this life of an eternal exile in my own country in fact to show you as you will have already understood you all quote the intellect of love that the efforts you attribute to me do not belong to me but to my noble wife at whose feet I deposit as they are due to her all the applause and the flowers which you have accumulated around me in your unlimited generosity of men born in this beautiful country our dear mother of infinite grace End of section 25 End of the Roosevelt Rondon Scientific Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission by Candido Rondon translated by R.G. Reedy and Edwin Murray