Journeying by this
route also, the traveller leaves San Jose mounted on his mule, and
so mounted he makes his way through the vast primeval forests down
to the banks of the Serapiqui river. That there is a track for him
is of course true; but it is simply a track, and during nine months
of the twelve is so deep in mud that the mules sink in it to their
bellies. Then, when the river has been reached, the traveller seats
him in his canoe, and for two days is paddled down,--down along the
Serapiqui, into the San Juan River, and down along the San Juan till
he reaches Greytown, passing one night at some hut on the river
side. At Greytown he waits for the steamer which will carry him his
first stage on his road towards Southampton. He must be a
connoisseur in disagreeables of every kind who can say with any
precision whether Greytown or Punt' Arenas is the better place for a
week's sojourn.
For a full month Mr. Arkwright would not give way to his wife. At
first he all but conquered her by declaring that the Serapiqui
journey would be dangerous for the baby; but she heard from some one
that it could be made less fatiguing for the baby than the other
route.
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