of an Orchid Hunter. 87 



Indians. They are absolutely averse to any kind of 

 work except that of the canoe, so that whatever 

 social advancement might be offered to them they 

 would not accept it. However, in the management 

 of the canoe they are invaluable, for out of the 

 hundreds of times they make the journey of the 

 river, shooting the terrific rapids at lightning speed, 

 besides hauling the canoe and cargo over fallen trees, 

 with which the river is almost impassable, or in the 

 dry season working in the water cutting channels, not 

 two per cent, of the canoes and freight are actually 

 lost. 



For two days after I arrived at Estacion San- 

 tander I was not able to get a canoe going up the 

 river, so, to pass the time in so miserable a situation, 

 I went alligator-hunting. Two or three species of 

 alligator abound in all the swamps and rivers, but 

 the most common is the large cayman, which grows to 

 a length of from eighteen to twenty feet, and attains 

 an enormous bulk. We had not far to go before we 

 met with several, and this being the breeding season, 

 they were especially hasty-tempered when compared 

 with their usually sluggish disposition. The female 

 scratches a hole in the sand, a few yards away from 

 the water's edge ; here she deposits a large number 

 of eggs — from twenty-five to seventy. I have never 

 found them more than one foot and a-half deep, but 



