30 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



of the old myth of a creature half-man, half-fish. 

 In the gloom of the forest arcade the canoe glides 

 along as noiselessly as if it were a brown aquatic 

 creature with a man's body and shoulders above 

 water slowly guiding itself with one great flapper. 

 This is best seen in small canoes, some of which 

 hold only one person. They are so very unstable 

 that none but Indians dare to use them even in the 

 stillest water. Yet their owners will take them into 

 the breakers below the rapids, and even stand up 

 in them to shoot the great pacou and other fish 

 which abound in such places. 



If the forest has attractions for the huntsman, 

 how much more interesting it must be to the 

 naturalist What one who has delighted the world 

 for over fifty years thought of the Guiana forest 

 may be seen in Waterton's "Wanderings." The 

 enthusiasm of the Yorkshire squire has probably 

 never been surpassed. To him the forest was 

 something more than the awful solitude which is 

 the first impression it makes on a stranger it was 

 full of life. No matter that the silence at noonday 

 was something almost appalling and that the 

 unfamiliar cries of animals after sunset only added 

 to the impression of loneliness, a feeling of intense 

 but quiet pleasure was produced which can be ap- 

 preciated only by one who has followed in his steps. 



