But their sufferings were not confined to hunger and disagreeable--often indigestible--food. There were the heavy steaming atmosphere and the broiling rays of a superheated sun, especially when reflected from the mirror-like surface of lake or river, which were so debilitating and exhausting that physical exertion of any kind was at times almost impossible. There were also the torrential and incessant rains--making it impossible for them to cook their food or dry their clothing--which added to their miseries whether in camp or in their canoe. Great, however, as were their trials on the river, they were trifling in comparison with those in the woods. Here locomotion was impeded by tangled undergrowth which was bound together by strands of lianas and thorny vines which constituted an impenetrable barrier until a passage was hewn through it with a machete. Under foot was a yielding morass which threatened to absorb them. Overhead were countless chigoes, garapatas and fire-ants which infested the body or buried themselves in the flesh. Or there were clouds of mosquitoes which gave no rest day or night. And worst of all was the ever-present danger of fever and dysentery, not to speak of the dread diseases so common in certain sections of the equatorial regions. It was then that Mme. Coudreau had to act the part of a physician, as well as of a leader, even though she was at the time such a sufferer herself that she was barely able to stand. To make matters still more difficult for Mme. Coudreau, her employees at times, especially when under the influence of liquor which they contrived to obtain some way or other, became mutinous and refused to accompany her to the end of her journey. At other times the expedition was halted by their fear of wild beasts or savage Indians, or by imaginary evils of many kinds, suggested to them by their superstitious minds. On such occasions Mme. Coudreau never failed to show herself a born leader of men, for she invariably--alone as she was with a crew who were often half savages--was successful in suppressing incipient rebellion and in restoring obedience and order.[177] Continually confronted, as she was, by such trials and difficulties, privations and dangers, one would imagine that the delicately reared Frenchwoman would have sought immediate release from an engagement that necessitated so much exposure and suffering and sought surcease of sorrow in the distractions and gaieties of pleasure-loving Paris. Nothing, however, was farther from her thoughts. Intrepid and resourceful, she feared no danger and hesitated before no difficulty, however great. As an explorer she was as venturesome as Crevaux and as conscientious as La Condamine. Like them, who were both her countrymen, she spent many years of her life in the equinoctial regions, and, like them, she contributed immensely to our knowledge of the Land of the Southern Cross.