202 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



me. I did not observe them anywhere else except here, 

 although they probably exist in other places on the river, 

 but as v^^e did not remain long in any other spot except 

 Ameha, I did not have the same opportunities of studying 

 the smaller forms of animal life as at Para, where we 

 stayed seventeen days. These sprightly little reptiles are 

 from one to one inch and a quarter in length. They are 

 jet black underneath, with the upper part of the body and 

 head irregularly marked with orange-yellow bands and 

 spots. What struck me most was that no two individuals 

 appeared to be marked in the same way, each one having 

 a pattern or design of its own, as it were. They make a 

 chirping noise like a small bird, and they move about with 

 extraordinary rapidity, protruding their long tongues for 

 the purpose of catching small insects. If alarmed they 

 disappear with a quick leap into some crevice, where they 

 remain until they consider the danger over. 



On March 9 the men told us that they had got two of 

 the boats to a spot about midway between where we were 

 and the river above. They said that it would save time and 

 be less fatiguing for them if we would remove our camp to 

 that spot, as they would not then have to make two long 

 journeys every day. The heaviest of the larger boats had 

 been dragged only to the top of the hill. On the morning 

 of the 10th, the provisions and our other things having 

 been made up into convenient packages so that they might 

 be carried by the men, we all walked to our new camp, 

 which we reached at about ten o'clock. Maite carried 

 his load in true Indian fashion. As he had done when 

 we explored Turagua, he constructed two oval frames, 

 about three feet in length, of thick pieces of pliable 

 creeper, with strips of bark woven between. Having 

 placed one of these frames on the ground, he spread the 



