A HUNT FOR HOATZINS 121 



one's shoulders, a rhythmical, liquid vibration. 

 With all fear eliminated, water and mud become 

 no more unpleasant than air and earth. So our 

 plantation expedition, like Gaul, may be divided 

 into three parts : first, a thrilling, dangerous, ex- 

 pectant phase; a brief second period of thor- 

 oughly disappointing revelation; third, a jolly, 

 unscientific, and wholly hilarious finale. These 

 are the trips which no explorer or traveler men- 

 tions, because there are no tangible returns. 

 But it is seldom that any expedition, however 

 barren of direct results, cannot be made to yield 

 some viewpoint of interest. 



The sun had just risen when the little ferry- 

 boat left the stelling on its way to the railway 

 station on the opposite bank of the river. Half 

 of the jungle across the Berbice was dark, dark 

 green, almost black, with a fragment of rain- 

 bow hung obliquely above it, tangled in blue- 

 black clouds. A little way up-river the level 

 sun's rays struck fairly, and the rounded, cloud- 

 like billows of foliage were of palest sage-green. 

 Our shore was all one blatant glare, flooded 

 already with the violent light of a tropical day. 

 Against the black Berbice cloud a hundred 



