Unfortunately  the  men  had  chosen  for  this  work  a  tree
they  did  not  know,  with  the  result  that  all  attempts  to
open  the  canoe  met  with  failure,  so  unyielding  was  the

R


542        A   NATURALIST   IN   THE   GUIANAS

timber  they  had  hit  upon.  This  was  a  really  regrettable
incident,  as  we  were  badly  in  need  of  an  extra  boat,
our  large  dug-out  being  in  such  a  leaky  condition  when
heavily  loaded,  that  one  of  the  men  had  to  be  kept
continuously  occupied  baling  out  the  water  which  forced
its  way  in  through  the  numerous  crevices  in  the  sides  and
bottom  of  our  worn-out  craft.  I  would  have  liked  to  have
built  another  boat,  did  I  not  feel  that  it  would  be  unsafe
to  spend  any  more  time  at  Ameha.  We  had  but  few  pro-
visions remaining.  The  rainy  season  had  set  in  almost
suddenly  and  the  river  was  rising  daily.  The  men,  afraid
that  we  might  be  cut  off  at  the  falls  of  Para,  had  become
openly  mutinous.  We  did  the  best  we  could  with  the  old
boat,  stuffing  bits  of  cloth  into  the  cracks  and  holes,  and  at
nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  (April),  we  pushed
off  from  the  shore  into  mid-stream,  with  the  massive  bulk  of
Ameha  frowning  upon  us.  We  had  tried  to  ascend  it  and
had  failed.  The  day  was  a  fine  one,  so  that  we  were  able
to  distinguish  every  detail  of  the  summit  stretching  to  the
south,  serene  and  unconquered,  in  the  bright  sunshine  of
that  April  morning,  and  this  added  to  the  bitterness  I  felt
at  having  failed  in  my  attempts  to  scale  it.
