218 Mr. J. G. Kerr 07i the Birds 



standiug motionless on a sandbank, one or two Jabirus 

 {Mycieria americana). 



Next morning, about ten o'clock, we arrived at Caraya 

 Vuelta, an Estancia on the western bank of the Paraguay, 

 a short distance north of the mouth of the Rio Aquidabau. 

 A day was spent there loading up the bidlock-carts and 

 making other preparations, and finally, on Oct. 23rd, we 

 started off on our journey into the interior of the Chaco. 



The track towards Waikthlatingmayalwa, the mission 

 station whither we were bound, lay roughly in a S.W. 

 direction. At one time it would traverse an apparently 

 limitless palm-dotted savannah, again it would wind in and 

 out along the margin of a piece of dense monte, and anon 

 skirt by the edge of a swamp choked with rich green vege- 

 tation. The first rains were already past, and much of the 

 open plain was covered with a few inches of water, so that 

 travelling was very laborious. From this cause and from 

 the intense heat, which caused the animals to be utterly 

 exhausted after a three or four liours' journey, our progress 

 was so slow that I began to fear that I should arrive at the 

 haunts of Lepidosiren too late, and find that the fish had 

 already spawned. As the thought of this, meaning the loss of 

 a whole year, was quite intolerable, I decided to push ahead 

 of the carts by forced marches. Accordiugly Mr. Budgett 

 and I, taking spare horses and carrying nothing in the way 

 of impedimenta beyond our arms and what we could com- 

 fortably convey on our saddles, left the rest of the party on 

 the afternoon of the fifth day, accompanied by an Indian 

 guide; and after two and a half days' journey, uneventful 

 though somewhat tiring, and rendered particularly dis- 

 agreeable to me by a slight return of low fever, we had the 

 satisfaction of drawing rein at our destination. Here we 

 were most hospitably received by a second local missionary, 

 Mr. Andrew Pride, and at once settled down to work, chafing 

 somewhat at the absence of the carts w ith our baggage, which 

 did not arrive till eight days later. 



Waikthlatingmayalwa (lit. ''the place where the people 

 about to encamp found a Tortoise"), where I established my 

 laboratory for the work upon Lepidosiren, and the locality 



