116 Excursion ujp the River Masseroni, 



thrill through me; the still more disagreeable moan of the 

 baboon ; or any of the other noises peculiar to the bush : and 

 one whose imagination was at work might have fancied, as the 

 light land breeze whistled gently through the trees, or disturbed 

 a few of the dry leaves, that the bushmaster was wreathing him- 

 self round one of the branches of the tree which supported the 

 hammock ; or that some other of the many large snakes with 

 which this country abounds was trailing its colossal body be- 

 neath. This combination of sounds, till the senses became 

 accustomed to it, produced a feeling of mixed pleasure and 

 pain ; nor was this diminished by the flapping of the wings of 

 the lai'ge vampire bat, as he occasionally passed within a few 

 inches of my nose ; for I candidly admit that, though the pre- 

 sence of this bird or beast did not give me any uneasiness, I did 

 not, like the immortal Waterton, feel any peculiar wish to ex- 

 perience, when I awoke in the morning, the pleasure of finding 

 that my great toe had been punctured by this treacherous foe, 

 and that I had lost twelve or fourteen ounces of blood through 

 its agency. If anything more could be wanting to complete the 

 interest which a European must feel in such a situation, he need 

 only reflect on the beings who are sleeping around him, part of 

 whom are in a state of entire barbarism ; while the others, to 

 the ignorance of the savage, add but too often the acquired vices 

 of the unfortunate negro. 



The heat of the sun, reflected from the water, was, at first, 

 almost intolerable ; causing my face and lips to blister : but, 

 after a short time, I experienced but little annoyance from it. 

 I amused myself, during our progress up the river, by looking 

 out for Orchidese, which are sometimes found growing on the 

 overhanging trees; or by shooting the various birds, which are 

 very abundant on the banks. Among the best of these are the 

 powie, or bush turkey ; a fine bird, almost as large as our English 

 turkey, and quite black : the maum, in flavour similar to a 

 grouse ; the maroudi, the toucan, the parrot, and several others, 

 all of which are good eating : nor must we forget the wild duck, 

 which is plentiful. Look towards the muddy bank of the river, 

 and you will see what you would mistake for a log of wood ; 

 but, as the canoe approaches, it rolls sluggishly into the water, 

 and you perceive it to be an alligator or cayman. The Indians 

 shot several of these animals, while basking in the sun, with 

 their arrows ; the largest of those shot might have been from 

 6 ft. to 7 ft. long. They appear to sleep exceedingly sound ; as 

 it twice hapjoened that I shot a bird in a tree immediately above 

 a cayman (which we did not, at first, perceive), without disturb- 

 ing the monster ; for we afterwards pulled in, and shot both. 

 Sometimes, also, about sunrise, might be observed, ahead of the 

 canoe, a slight ripple on the water, which, on a nearer approach, 



