FAUNAL CONDITIONS IN THE CANAL ZONE 



243 



caused conjecture to run rife, there 

 being as many opinions as there were 

 listeners. 



Besides the work done on the Rio 

 Trinidad, several long trips by launch 

 were made up the Rio Chagres, one as 

 far up the river as the launch could as- 

 cend and two others up the Rio Chilibrillo 

 to some limestone caves for bats. On 

 these trips it was found that the rising 

 waters had ascended far up the river 

 valleys, which in this part of the region 

 have very little fall, making them navi- 

 gable to launches where formerly it 

 would have been impossible to take a 

 cayuca or native dugout. Some of 

 these flooded rivers — rivers by courtesy, 

 for in the States these streams would be 

 called creeks — with their banks densely 

 lined by jungle vegetation which met 

 overhead and dropped long vines and 

 streamers into the waters, were very 

 beautiful. 



Everywhere we found the forest 

 inundated. In regions early flooded, 

 where the trees were submerged for the 

 greater part of their height, all the trees 

 were dead and leafless with an occasional 

 great clump of orchids, the only green 

 left. Many square miles of the sur- 

 face of Gatiin Lake are thickly studded 

 with dead tree-tops of what was at one 

 time splendid tropical forest. In regions 

 of later high water many of the trees 

 were still green and blossoming; espe- 

 cially was this so along the shores where 

 but the lower part of the tree trunks 

 were under water. It is not improbable 

 that some of the more resistant trees 

 may live to a ripe old age with their 

 roots some feet below the surface of 

 Gatun Lake, for some species were found 

 flourishing among their long since dead 

 companions. No new aquatic growth, 

 arisen to take advantage of the altered 

 conditions, was noted, but the condi- 

 tions had probably not been in operation 



long enough to bring about such a growth. 

 The dead trees are constantly falling 

 and the far-reaching crash of their 

 descent is one of the common sounds of 

 the lake. 



Gatun Lake will undoubtedly pro- 

 duce new economic conditions among the 

 natives of the adjacent district. These 

 natives formerly had no other water- 

 ways but the few rivers that traversed 

 the interior basin, and were available 

 for navigation only to a limited number 

 of villages. Such rivers were the 

 Chagres, Trinidad and Gatiin. Now 

 the far-extending lake shores provide 

 such an accessible waterway that the 

 natives are learning to navigate on lake 

 waters, and every morning their cayucas 

 may be seen lined up at the native 

 market along the lock-front at Gatun. 

 Being primarily river boatmen however, 

 they are yet somewhat distrustful of 

 the lake winds and do most of their 

 traveling at night when the winds die 

 down. During the dry season, from 

 January to April, the winds blow across 

 the lake toward a northern quarter of 

 the compass and just the reverse holds 

 true for the rest of the year. This wind 

 at times becomes strong enough to 

 threaten small boats seriously, and at 

 practically all times of the day would 

 be a strong check on the progress of 

 the native dugout that was facing it. 

 We found it necessary to move the house 

 boat always at night and in the early 

 morning hours because of this wind, 

 and this proved a serious obstacle to 

 working many localities, because it was 

 out of the question to run at night with- 

 out a moon, and when we most wished 

 to move we had a late rising moon. 

 After driving the launch full-tilt over 

 a floating tree and into partially sub- 

 merged bush and tree tops, trying to 

 steer by lantern light, we confined our 

 future movements to moonlit hours. 



