104 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



glean a little information now and then. If the 

 cover for ground game is so very great, what shall 

 we say of that for the monkeys, opossums, sloths, 

 iguanas, snakes, and birds. From the din some 

 of these make in the early morning we might 

 suppose them to be the only inhabitants of the 

 forest. And how weird are their cries ! They 

 add to the feeling of awe which is almost insepar- 

 able from the dense shades. The red howling 

 monkey, hidden in the foliage overhead, keeps up 

 his reverberating notes at intervals for hours, and 

 makes the stranger exclaim almost in a fright, 

 " Whatever can that be ? " Then come the tree- 

 frogs, which astonish us with their loud whistling 

 or booming, while the buzzing of the cicada or 

 razor-grinder is even more startling. Near the 

 settlements the latter is called the " six-o'clock 

 bee," from its characteristic noise being heard at 

 that hour, as it flies from tree to tree. Suddenly, 

 without warning, you hear a grindstone, as it were, 

 at work in the tree overhead, and presently, if the 

 canopy be not too thick, see a great fly pass 

 quickly into another tree and repeat its peculiar 

 buzz. In the forest at certain seasons these insects 

 are heard in the day, but instead of enlivening 

 the awful stillness, they rather add to its solemnity. 

 Those who have wandered alone over some moun- 



