LA ZONA DE LOS BOSQUES 115 



the cold sets in. Like other varieties of the family this 

 cormorant congregates in vast flocks. Abundance of fish 

 in favoured parts of the sea may be the cause of their 

 being so gregarious, but they may also have found by 

 experience that they gain some advantage by fishing in 

 company ; for any shoal of fish attacked simultaneously 

 by a large number of birds would offer in their bewilder- 

 ment an easier prey than if pursued by one or two 

 individuals only. 



When I saw the clouds of these Gotuas which rose 

 from the surface of the Caura while we were passing the 

 mouth of the Mato, and I considered that each of these 

 greedy birds devoured several pounds of fish in the course 

 of a single day, I could not but appreciate the necessity 

 for that prodigality of generation with which Nature has 

 endowed many of the dwellers in the waters. 



Most of the men who accompanied me ate the flesh of 

 this cormorant, although it possesses a disagreeable oiiy 

 taste which is most unpalatable. But then, some of my 

 peons were as voracious as the cormorants themselves, 

 with the difference that the former were omnivorous. 



At a distance of about a mile above the mouth of the 

 Mato a ledge of rock runs across the bed of the Caura, 

 and as there is a slight declivity at the spot, the current is 

 rapid. But between this rocky formation and the settle- 

 ment of Temblador no obstruction occurs in the bed of 

 the stream, which is broad and deep, and free from rocks. 

 The country on both banks is clothed with virgin forest. 

 It is ' La zona de los bosques,' the region of the woods. 

 We had entered its outskirts ; we meant to penetrate 

 some distance into its solitudes ; we should see 300 or 

 400 miles of it along the banks of the Caura. But even 

 then we should have wandered on its threshold only, 



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