294 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



part of the night. They jumped about in the branches, 

 and from the swishing noises which reached us it was easy 

 to imagine them enjoying a good swing up and down upon 

 some particularly springy limb. They dropped leaves and 

 twigs down upon the tent-fly, probably through accident, 

 but perhaps prompted by the desire to find out if anything 

 would happen. At frequent intervals they drew together 

 in a close group to chatter in low, grunting tones, and then, 

 coming to the conclusion that the queer-looking objects 

 below them must be capable of performing some interesting 

 action, again began to tempt fate by showering down more 

 twigs and leaves. 



In many places the receding water of the river had left 

 isolated pools; these were teeming with fish of many spe- 

 cies; some of them were of large size. A number which 

 we caught had practically the entire tail and fins eaten off ; 

 their cannibalistic brethren had no doubt taken advantage 

 of the circumstances in which they were all placed, and 

 begun to devour them piecemeal, at their leisure. 



The trees were tall and straight, and there was dense 

 undergrowth near the rivers only. Mosses and epiphytes, 

 so typical of the subtropical zone, were almost lacking, but 

 frequently the wind brought the delightful fragrance of 

 ripening vanilla-beans and the perfume of flowers. Great 

 clusters of scarlet trumpetflowers dangled from the tips 

 of slender vines, and from the tops of many of the trees 

 drooped long garlands of huge white-and-blue flowers that 

 resembled sweet peas; some of these blooms were two inches 

 hi diameter. There were also clumps of terrestrial orchids 

 on some of the rocks, with slender spikes of deep purple 

 flowers waving daintily under the impulse of each passing 

 breeze. 



Seven days after leaving Cochabamba we came sud- 

 denly upon the little cluster of grass and bamboo houses 

 known as Todos Santos; there were exactly seven of them, 

 two of which were of large size, partially enclosing a wide 

 plot of ground carpeted with soft green grass. Tall forest 



