198 CAEIPI. Chap. V. 



respect ; the heat of midday has very little effect on 

 them, and they dislike the cold nights on the river. 



We arrived at our hunting-gi'ound about half-past 

 four. The channel was here broader and presented 

 several ramifications. It yet wanted an hour and a 

 half to day-break, so Raimundo recommended me to 

 have a nap. We both stretched ourselves on the 

 benches of the canoe and fell asleep, letting the boat 

 drift with the tide, which was now slack. I slept well 

 considering the hardness of our bed, and when I awoke 

 in the middle of a dream about home-scenes the day 

 was beginning to dawn. My clothes were quite wet 

 with the dew. The birds were astir, the cicadas had 

 begun their music, and the Urania Leilus, a strange 

 and beautiful tailed and gilded moth, whose habits are 

 those of a butterfly, commenced to fly in flocks over the 

 tree tops. Raimundo exclaimed " Clareia o dia !" "The 

 day brightens !" The change was rapid : the sky in 

 the east assumed suddenly the loveliest azure colour, 

 across which streaks of thin, white clouds were painted. 

 It is at such moments as this when one feels how 

 l)eautiful our earth truly is 1 The channel on whose 

 waters our little boat was floating was about 200 yards 

 wide ; others branched off light and left, surrounding 

 the gi'oup of lonely islands which terminate the land of 

 Carnapijo. The forest on aU sides formed a lofty 

 hedge without a break : below, it was fringed with 

 mangrove bushes, whose small foliage contrasted with 

 tlie large glossy leaves of the taller trees, or the feather 

 and fan-shaped fronds of palms. 



Being now arrived at our destination, Raimundo turned 



