Isabela lost around sarayaku

It is thought that it was around Sarayaku that Isabela’s party died one by one and she was lost in the jungle for days.

After two days of travel down the river, the two Indians who she had commissions to build the canoe in Canelos and pilot it down the river (paid for in advance) abandoned her. They woke up on the third morning to find them gone.

They went on and passed one day without incident 2nd day they found a canoe and by it a hut where there was an Indian recovering from illness built of leaves. He agreed to pilot them on the 3rd day he tried to recover the Frenchman’s hat and fell in the river and drowned.

More than once someone lost their hat and it blew off into the water – a reminder of the frenchman’s hat who blew off, and the poor hapless indian who had tried to rescue it fell into the water and drowned, once again leaving Isabella and her party without a pilot to steer their boat. In Jean’s words:

‘Again the canoe was without a steers mans and abandoned to individuals perfectly ignorant of managing it and it was shortly overset forcing them to land and build a hut. At this stage Jean predicts they were some 5-6 days from Andoas.’

It was decided that two of the Frenchman and Joachim would leave in the canoe to travel to Andoas where they would arrange for a proper rescue party to return and collect them. Jean later questioned why a brother didn’t go but found neither trusted themselves to water the again without a proper pilot.

The Frenchman, R, promised that within a fortnight a canoe should be forwarded to them with a proper complement of natives. The fortnight expired and even 5 and 20 days when giving over all hopes they constructed a raft on which they ventured themselves with their provisions and property. The raft, badly framed struck, against the branch of a sunken tree and overset all their effects perishing in the waves, with the whole party being lunged into the water, No one drowned. Jean doesn’t mention the death of the nephew. They collectively decided to and walk the river bank. This is difficult trees, underwood herbages and lianas bested with trees underwood and eventually they penetrated the wood and soon got lost. Their feet torn by thorns and brambles provisions exhausted and dying with this they seated themselves on the ground without the power of rising and waited the approach of death, expiring within 3-4 days of each other, sometime between 25 and 30 December 1769. Isabela remained with the corpses for 2 days until she started wandering in the woods. She wandered alone for around 8 days at random. The stress of the experience turned her hair grey overnight, having had such an effect on her spirits, witnessing the horror of all the deaths, solitude, apprehension of death. Allegedly she survived on water, wild fruit and fresh eggs. She could barely swallow however her oesophagus being so parched and strained.