of an Orchid Hunter. 99 



edge of the sand-bank, wading as far as their long 

 legs would allow. The alligators, which, up to the 

 present, had kept carefully under the water, began to 

 make an appearance, first poking their heads cautiously 

 out, and then dragging their long bodies out on the 

 sand, while a crowd of about a dozen turtles raced out 

 of the water. The opposite bank was not less ani- 

 mated than the one on which our canoe was moored. 

 I could hear the peccaries grunting and rushing about 

 in search of food, Several deer and one tapir came 

 down to the water to drink, being distinctly visible in 

 the clear moonlight. The occasional sharp bark of the 

 ocelot and the deep growl of the jaguar, together 

 with the mimic roar of the howler monkey, and 

 the low, prolonged wailing of the sloth, seemed fit 

 accompaniment for so wild a place. I lay down 

 to rest, leaving them in the height of activity, 

 and when daylight came nothing was to be 

 seen of my midnight visitors but footprints. All 

 this day we kept on steadily up the swift-running 

 stream, little of importance taking place, and in the 

 evening we camped again on a sand-bank. From 

 here we could see the long, blue line of the tops of the 

 Andes away on the horizon, but still at a considerable 

 distance, on account of the winding of the river. 



