42 A xNATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



steamer, leaving the players trying their best to ruin each 

 other in a small way. 



When I awoke at daybreak on the following morning, 

 we were already in the Macareo, one of the many 

 channels which form a labyrinth through the low-lying 

 lands known as the delta of the Orinoco. The scenery 

 on the banks of these channels, or canos, is dreary and 

 monotonous. To the waste of mangroves which line the 

 coast, trees of more robust growth and more varied in 

 character succeed ; nevertheless, the unbroken stretch of 

 tangled vegetation along the banks of the canos produces 

 a feeling of weariness and a longing for a glimpse of more 

 open and uneven country. 



In this wilderness of land and water countless num- 

 bers of marsh-birds have made a home. Flocks of the 

 scarlet ibis and snowy egret, and of that strange example 

 of arrested evolution in bird life, the hoatzin, rise from 

 the trees at every moment, as the steamer brushes past 

 the wooded banks avoiding the full force of the current 

 in mid-stream. We passed several canoes and many 

 settlements of almost nude Guaraunos.^ Whenever we 

 neared a settlement the Indians would put off in their 

 dug-outs and paddle frantically towards the steamer. 

 Biscuits and other trifles were thrown to them by the 

 captain and passengers, and it was amusing to observe 

 the eagerness with which they paddled for such objects 

 as had fallen in the water ; in return they threw cassava 

 and game on board. It is a curious fact that, since the 

 advent of the white man, the Guaraunos do not appear 

 to have decreased in the same proportion as the other 

 Indian tribes of Venezuela, although they are certainly 

 inferior, physically and intellectually, to most of the 

 ' Pronounced Wavaunos. 



