Head Hunters of the Amazon

We met the "Admiral" in a tavern, from which he had just ejected everyone else with the aid of a table-leg which he still grasped when we entered. His name was Brown, and he was from Pittsburg. He was the navigating officer, chief gunner, and engineer of the Ecuadorian fleet, which was lying at that moment under repair in the harbour of Guayaquil. The fleet was composed of a couple of gun-boats, known to the English-speaking residents as the Espere un poco and the Pasada ma–ana.

From Guayaquil I went up the Guayas, a tidal river, to Bodegas, the greatest cacao-collecting station in the world. It lies about eighty miles from the port of Guayaquil. Never have I seen such enormous numbers of alligators as those which lived along that river. The water seemed to be composed of mud and alligators. The mud-bars were almost eclipsed by them. We ran over them and into them all the time.

Thus it happened that just two and a half years fr