3G2 



DEIFTING OF ANIMALS 



[Ch. XXXIX. 



Mississipp 



root^ and the water-lily or nenuphar displays its yellow 

 flowers : serpents^ birds^ and the cayman alligator come to 



sometimes 



engulphed in its waters. 



Spix and Martins relate that^ during their travels in Brazil 

 they were exposed to great danger while ascending the 

 Amazons in a canoe^ from the vast quantity of drift-wood con- 

 stantly propelled against them by the current ; so much so 

 that their safety depended on the crew being always on the 

 alert to turn aside the trunks of trees with long poles. The 

 tops alone of some trees appeared above water^ others had 

 their roots attached to them with so much soil that they 

 might be compared to floating 

 lers^ we saw some very six 



On these^ say the travel- 

 assemblages of animals, 

 pursuing peacefully their uncertain w^ay in strange companion- 

 ship. On one raft were several grave-looking storks, perched 

 by the side of a party of monkeys, who made comical gestures, 

 and burst into loud cries, on seeing the canoe. On another 

 Avas seen a number of ducks and divers, sitting by a group 

 of squirrels. Next came down, upon the stem of a la: 

 rotten cedar-tree, an enormous crocodile, by the side of a tiger- 

 cat, both animals regarding each other with hostility and 

 mistrust, but the saurian being evidently most at his ease, as 

 conscious of his superior strength.^ 



Similar green rafts, principally composed of canes and 

 brushwood, are called ' camelotes ^ on the Parana in South 

 America; and they are occasionally carried down by in- 

 undations, bearing on them the tiger, cayman, squirrels, and 

 other quadrupeds, which are said to be always terror-stricken 



on their floating habitation. 



No 



^ ^ 



Monte 



35° 



alarm 



memoir 



t 



XXIY 



^ Spix and Martins, Eeise, &c., vol. p. 187, and Eobertson's Letters on Ph- 



111. pp. 1011, 1013. 



t Sir W. Parish's Euenos 



. ragnay, p. 220. 



Avres, 



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a 



til 



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of 



