292 CAXOE-VOYAGE DOWN THE KIO NAPO. 



murderous attempt upon the language, that we impul- 

 sively informed him that "\ve did not understand English. 

 With Spanish grandiosity he then set forth the Virtues of 

 his hammocks. We purchased several, and j&oated on. 



Upon the night of the 8th we were aroused by a se- 

 vere storm, that threatened, for a time, to unroof our 

 craft. We encountered these squalls frequently upon the 

 Lower Napo, and they were a source of constant appre- 

 hension. Moreover, we were now among wilder Indian 

 tribes, for we had passed beyond the limits of the ISTapos 

 and Zaparos. Consequently, upon the night of the 9th, 

 we instituted a watch. There is more pleasant employ- 

 ment than watching for wild Iquitos, Orejones, and Putu- 

 mayos in the Xapo forest. 



The Napo, during its lower course, becomes a majestic 

 stream, and, forgetting its former haste, moves slowly 

 down ; and so Ave were borne leisurely alongside its for- 

 est-borders. We have spoken of the impressiveness of 

 tropical vegetation. Yet we think we are in accord with 

 all travellers in intertropical America when we say that, 

 in the forests of those regions, we find but little of the 

 quiet beauty of our northern woodland scenery. We ad- 

 mire them because of their many individual stately forms, 

 their boldness of growth, their wildness, and their luxu- 

 riance. But the one element, color, which must enter 

 largely into any landscaj^e view calculated to j^roduce 

 a?sthetical effect, is here almost entirely wanting. We 

 have remarked the scarcity of flowers in these dense, 

 primeval forests. Then the I'ich, autumnal tints of our 

 own northern woods are here unknown ; throughout the 

 months there is the same eternal, unvarying green. Not 

 willingly would we exchange our own forest scenery for 

 that of the tropics. 



Upon the morning of the 10th of December we discov- 

 ered a few huts upon a low bluff of the river, and, landing. 



