244 
A JOURXEY IX ECUADOR 
and insect life as here in the depth of the equatorial forest. 
Many-colored moths, butterflies, and humming-birds fluttered 
from plant to plant, and even snakes, toads, and lizards were 
clothed in ])revailing bright hues. The snakes were generally 
about the size of the rattlesnake, with flat heads and large fangs, 
and many of them were venomous. The boa here does not reach 
so great a size as on the Amazon drainage, the largest we saw 
being eight feet long and three inches thick. On some of the 
smaller streams one species of reptile, light green in color, had 
an uncanny way of dropping unexpectedly from trees, once in 
awhile actually dropping into our canoe as we passed. Two 
large copper tanks were filled with different species of reptiles. 
One earthworm was found two feet long, a cockroach three 
inches, and a grasshopper three and one-half inches in length. 
Large fireflies, with two phosphorescent eyes, were plentiful; 
they made a crackling noise in flight. During the night we 
stuffed cotton in our ears, not alone to drown the droning and 
buzzing of the insects, but also to prevent the pests from crawl- 
ing in while we slept. 
Four or five natives in charge of an assistant were sent ahead 
with provisions, to put up ranches (a ranch here is a temporary 
camp) of cane and palm leaves, and with three others I brought 
up the rear. The vegetation changed somewhat and became 
semi-tropical in character, the red cedar predominating, and 
although there was not the same dense jungle .as below, still the 
underl)rush was luxuriant, and our machete men were kept busy 
in cutting out the large tangled roots and dense vegetation which 
obstructed our path up the ridges. As we ascended the stream 
we noticed many butterflies on the playas. Toward evening the 
numl^er increased until for an hour they passed over our heads 
in perfect swarms like locusts. 
We passed two falls by swimming and climbing along the edge 
of the rocky bank until it was too steep to even afford foothold. 
We then made a raft of light balsa wood and passed along the 
cliffs to the third fall. Wearied by our work, we j>itched our 
tent .along the edge of the canon about thirty-five feet aVjove the 
water. For the sake of convenience our Jamaican cook had 
l)itched his camp under a shelving rock about twent}' feet above 
the water. Shortly after dark we heard the distant thunder in 
the mountains, and in two hours, before we bad even time to 
realize wbat had happened, the water came doAvn in one solid 
sheet of white foam and washed our kitchen away, leaving us. 
