THROUGH THE COASTAL WILDERNESS. 221 



sifted their pollen down upon us. The bird songs of this 

 region are not long and elaborate, but there was no dearth of 

 most delightful, liquid phrases, usually loud and penetrating. 

 Six songs, all wholly unlike one another, reached us that day, 

 all unknown, mysterious. We steered close to the bank and 

 picked a wild cocoa pod but found it unripe and the beans 

 had only a raw aroma. Two long-snouted weevils crawled 



FIG. 91. WAKE OF \ MAXATEE SWIMMING UP RIVER. 



from the heart of the pod, one of the myriad hidden forms 

 of life of this wonderland. 



Now and then we passed a little open grassy savanna 

 where the water was no longer brown, but a clear black from 

 the steeping of the decaying vegetation. 



In many places the water leaves showed where manatees 

 had been browsing, and occasionally we caught sight of the 

 huge ungainly creatures, as they swam slowly up stream or 

 nosed the vegetation along the bank. 



