130 TlMEHRI. 



narrow reach of the river, between the lofty, many-tinted 

 forest trees, lay like a pathway to the sunlit, mist-crowned 

 mountain, rising before us. 



At Amutu, one passes from the narrow foam-flecked 

 river into a wide bay, with its amphitheatre of dense forest, 

 at the head of which the water thunders over the rocks, 

 but broken up by an island in the middle into two parts; 

 while, beyond, the valley opens between steep sides of sand- 

 stone. Turning to the right, we made for the portage path, 

 and reached it with great difficulty owing to the shallow- 

 ness of the water. On this side there was no fall of 

 water, owing to the lowness of the river, and the high 

 sandstone ledge across the channel was perfectly dry. 

 The portage path here, which is about a quarter of a mile 

 in length, and always quite unavoidable, was extremely 

 bad owing to an overgrowth of pricklv bushes and tall 

 razor grass, which, added to the steepness of the hill and 

 the frequent rocks along the track, rendered the pulling 

 over a very unpleasant matter. On this account, only 

 the narrow corial was taken over, with food sufficient to 

 last for a few days — five of the men being left with the 

 bateau, with directions to clear the path for our return. 



Above Amutu, birds seemed to be in great abundance, 

 but they were by no means easy to procure. A very 

 fine green-winged macaw (Ara chloroptera) , a large 

 Chrysotis and a duraquara-hawk were, however, shot and 

 made into skins. Parrots and macaws were constantly 

 passing high over head, shrieking, out of range ; while the 

 red-billed toucan (Rhamphastos erythrorhynchus) , the 

 black bunya (Ostinops decumanns) , and the brown-barred 

 wood-pecker (CeleusJ flew across at intervals, but well 

 ahead of the boat. Afar in the forest, the musical cooing 



