176 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANxVS 



hours of the morning to hang around the kitchen fire 

 being that they felt cold or hungry. With the first 

 streaks of Hght the Indians joined us and we started, as 

 we all wished to get through the trying channels of the 

 upper reaches of Mura in the cool of the morning. We 

 had to land repeatedly while the boats were being hauled 

 against the powerful current, and I was able to study the 

 vegetation we were passing by. I noticed that most of 

 the trees on the islands, and along the banks where they 

 are rocky, present a peculiar appearance. Imagine a 

 trunk of the girth of a large forest-tree crowned by a few 

 insignificant branches out of all proportion to the rest of the 

 tree. These trees looked every bit as ridiculous as human 

 dwarfs. In many instances the trunks were quite hollow, and 

 they were moss-covered and full of knots. The conditions 

 under which they had had to struggle for an existence had 

 no doubt contributed to these peculiarities in their growth. 

 By noon we passed through the last channel of the 

 rapids of Mura. Facundo, who had been complaining the 

 whole morning of a severe pain in the intestines, begged 

 me to allow him to have an hour's rest in the shade. He 

 appeared to be very ill. The previous day's exposure to 

 the burning rays of the sun had redoubled the inflam- 

 mation from which he had been suffering. I was anxious 

 to send him back in the small boat which could have 

 rejoined us afterwards on the Nichare, but he insisted 

 upon accompanying me for at least a couple of days. 

 Between the rapids of Mura and those of Piritu there is 

 no serious obstruction to the navigation of the river, 

 which for a good part of the way is divided into two 

 channels by a long island named Isla Larga. We stopped 

 at three o'clock at an abandoned clearing of some tonca- 

 bean collectors, who visit this spot regularly during the 



