Posted by Peter on July 07, 1997 at 11:29:56:
The expedition leader arrived late at the station [sorry, sumimasen!], after having become so late that e had to leave the dromedary behind and catch a train instead! We all walked down to the river after buying provisions and sat down under a very native bridge: the native chariots thundered very loudly indeed, by some very clever scheduling the natives contrived to cross the bridge from either direction at the same time!
We had a very warm picnic alongside the Tamagawa. I was horrified to see a duffer very nearly drown [obviously not an Arthur Ransome reader]. We heated some pemmican over a Primus stove, in a frying pan fashioned from a native grog container. [Well done, Margoletta-san!]
At the end of our meal we were joined by a couple more explorers who arrived late. We then wandered down to where a local savage had moored an old barge alongside the bank, and for the price of some beads and jewellery, we hired three native war canoes, which bt remarkable coincidence were named Swallow, Amazon and Scarab.
Rowing skills among our party were of varying quality but we somehow managed with plenty of sea shanties and splashing to land on an uncharted island in the middle of the river. We hoisted the Jolly Roger and claimedthis island on behalf of the Swallows and Amazons, and named the island Tsubame-to or Swallow Island. We enjoyed a refreshing cupof tea then headed back for the mainland.
One of the exploring party was suffeing from thirst, heatstroke and probably also leprosy, plague and scurvy. The other sailors kindly led him to a native settlement where for a very very large number of beads and pearls we bought some water and fruit juice. The very rich savages here obviously made an excellent trade in providing for thirsty travellers.
At last we made it back to the railway. After a wait of several days we finally saw smoke on the horizon. Soon the train arrived and took us away from this vast, parched, barren, waterless desert to a land of more comfortable climate.