360 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



Here we had planned to spend a week, but were prevented 

 by an accident from remaining more than three days, but 

 even in the short space of thirty-six hours of daylight we 

 learned much of the life on and about this islet. 



Our two other trips had been to tiny islands of cleared 

 ground in the midst of a sea of the densest jungle; here we 

 were marooned in the shade of a little isolated group of trees 

 on a diminutive hillock of earth, bounded in all directions by 

 an impenetrable marsh. If one so much as took a single 

 step from the island, it was into three feet or more of water 

 and tangled reeds, too dense to push a boat through. Dur- 

 ing the rainy season boats can be poled through, and at the 

 dry season firmer footing is possible, but our visit was at a 

 time betwixt and between. I have made a small rough plan 

 of our domain on the Abary, Fig. 147. 



The river was at this point only about seventy-five feet 

 in width, flowing almost due south. As we ascended it, a 

 narrow inlet became visible in the right bank, which led into 

 a good-sized lagoon about as wide as the river, which had 

 probably been formed by the excavation of the marsh. This 

 lagoon bounded the north and part of the east sides of the 

 island. The prevailing wind was from the east and this 

 probably accounted for the line of small trees and bushes 

 being almost altogether on the western bank. 



We were welcomed at the bungalow by Mr. Harry, the 

 young American engineer in charge, who, without the ornate 

 phrases of Spanish hospitality, but in the simple American 

 manner, put the bungalow and everything at the plantation 

 at our disposal. 



Nothing more different from what we encountered in the 

 bush can be imagined. There, no sunlight save what sifts 

 down through the tall trees; here, a blaze of light from 

 horizon to horizon: there, hosts of living creatures, but as a 

 rule single individuals of a species or in pairs; here, unnum- 



