INTRODUCTION 



Many years ago, when reading this book for 

 the first time, my boyish imagination was so fired 

 that I determined the first opportunity should 

 find me on my way to Waterton's beloved Deme- 

 rara, and in March of the year 1908, I sailed from 

 New York on a journey in which I covered most 

 of the country which he describes so well and so 

 thoroughly. There are but slight changes in the 

 hundred years which have elapsed since he visited 

 South America. The great exuberant jungles are 

 just as dense and unbroken now as then; there 

 are a very few new clearings and small settle- 

 ments along the rivers, but some of those of his 

 time have disappeared, and inland the immense 

 range of forest still remains unbroken. I heard 

 the weird night song of the red monkeys, the toll- 

 ing of the bell bird, the coughing roar of the 

 jaguar and the many other night sounds just as 

 he must have heard them. The jungles are still 

 alive with toucans, parrots, jacamars, trogons, 

 motmots, cassiques, etc. Every little clearing is 

 the gathering place of great numbers of such 

 small birds as the hummingbirds, tanagers, fly- 

 catchers, and cotingas of many varieties and 

 colors. I saw a few snakes, the camoudi or ana- 

 conda, the labarri, the bushmaster, or couana- 

 couchi, and a most beautiful bright green parrot 

 snake. 



