350 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



panion that we go back into the forest and paddle about a bit to see 

 whatever we might see. Our reason for being in this wonderful place 

 was primarily to study its wildlife, so how better could we occupy 

 ourselves? He immediately agreed and we pushed off, paddling 

 gently. 



Experience had taught us years before that you can get lost in a 

 tropical forest within a few yards of a large camp, even if you carry 

 a compass. Everything looks alike and one always tends to drift 

 to either one side or the other, and usually to the left for some un- 

 known reason, every time one goes round any obstacle, such as a 

 tree. The only safe way is to mark your trail, and this we now did, 

 but every time we smacked at a passing tree with our machetes to 

 make a clear sign, the forest rang with tortured echoes. The violent 

 introduction of metal, something unknown to a virgin forest, seemed 

 somehow sacrilegious, and we finally decided to just drift. By this 

 time we were well over a mile from the river and in the depths of 

 the forest. 



Suddenly, the silence was disturbed, though not in any wise shat- 

 tered, by a sound that can only be described as a monumental mur- 

 muration, just as if a very fat man were letting out a series of final 

 sighs before expiring. My companion and I froze and stared at each 

 other in amazement, for neither of us could tell even from which 

 direction it had come. There followed several more similar gargan- 

 tuan sighs in quick succession from right behind us, and then, within 

 a few feet of the canoe, a number of shining pink things suddenly 

 appeared out of the sherry-colored waters, each causing a gentle 

 little wake to go weaving off between the trees. We stared at them 

 in disbelief, while they passed beneath the canoe, rocking it ever so 

 gently. They appeared again ahead, each blowing softly, and then, one 

 after the other, dipped silently below the inky waters once more. 

 And while we just sat there staring, they broke the surface still 

 again, this time sighing deeply, and then they wheeled to the right 

 and went off among the great tree boles. After they had gone and 

 the waters had settled back to their mirrored perfection, something 

 gave a gigantic slap upon their surface some way off, and there was 

 a loud splash, after which there was only the silence. 



That was all we saw, but it was a vision of the utmost significance, 

 for we had witnessed something of very long ago, and possibly some- 



