440 THE ADVENTURES OF 



which seemed to frighten our menagerie, and with a last 

 look at the forest in which I had spent so many miserable 

 hou^s the mooring was cut, and the raft floated slowly and 

 silently down the current. 



The raft soon drifted into a lagoon, covered with waders 

 and web-footed birds, which scarcely moved as we passed 

 them, and some time was lost before we could regain the 

 course of the stream. At length, guided by the palm-trees, 

 our skiff glided between two banks bordered by trees, the 

 high tops of which sheltered us with their shade. 



Every thing was calm around us, and we remained silent, 

 awed by the majesty of nature. The stream flowed on in 

 one single sheet ; creepers hanging from the tree-tops droop- 

 ed down into the water; while kingfishers skimmed from 

 one shore to the other, and humming-birds, with their va- 

 ried and shining plumage, fluttered about the flowers. 

 Every now and then a low-hanging tree impeded our pas- 

 sage, and we had to bend down on the raft to avoid being 

 struck by such obstacles. A mass of under-wood often hid 

 the interior of the woods from our view; but here and 

 there a break in the foliage allowed us a glimpse into its 

 depths. Ebony-trees, cotton-wood, pepper-trees, and palms, 

 were intermixed with tree-ferns, magnolias, white oaks, and 

 willows. Here and there, too, a sunbeam marked out a vast 

 circle of light upon the dark water, and myriads of aquatic 

 insects, gnats, dragon-flies, and butterflies sported in the air 

 or swam over the glittering surface. 



After a time, the state of inaction to which we were 

 doomed, aggravated by the stings of mosquitoes and large 

 green-eyed flies, became a perfect torture. 



" Those are horse-flies," said Sumichrast to Lucien ; " they 

 are very fond of blood, and are a misery to all kinds of 

 mammals from one end of America to the other." 



" Their bite is more painful than that of the mosquitoes," 



