When the boat departed, Zahm's wife and four children flew in from New York to bid him farewell. The American Museum was especially eager to acquire items from the region separating the Amazon River's southern affluents from its headwaters in Paraguay. The majority of colubrine snakes, which are the typical snakes we encounter everywhere, are completely harmless. However, certain snakes, like cobras, grow into what are generally thought to be the most dangerous snakes. On Christmas Day, we made steady progress upstream between upper Paraguay's lush and picturesque banks while fighting a strong current. The low, marshy, rich wastelands known as the Chaco were to the west across the river and were still occupied by either wild Indians or massive-scale cattle ranching. Our entire group, together with all of their baggage, boarded our fine small river boat, the Nyoac, at Corumba. The Amazon River, which flows from the Andes to the Atlantic from west to east, is the largest river in the world. A train of pack oxen left two days before our own departure with our mule train, hauling supplies, equipment, and other items. Most of them were thoroughly broken, but there was around a score that was either completely unbroken or horribly shattered.
