UP THE RIVER OF TAPIRS 159 



orchids growing from the side of the trunk, half-way to 

 the top. On another big tree, not a palm, which stood in 

 a Httle opening, there hung well over a hundred troupials' 

 nests. Besides two or three small ranches we this day 

 passed a large ranch. The various houses and sheds, all 

 palm-thatched, stood by the river in a big space of cleared 

 ground, dotted with wawasa palms. A native house-boat 

 was moored by the bank. Women and children looked 

 from the unglazed windows of the houses; men stood in 

 front of them. The biggest house was enclosed by a stock- 

 ade of palm-logs, thrust end-on into the ground. Cows 

 and oxen grazed round about; and carts with solid wheels, 

 each wheel made of a single disk of wood, were tilted on 

 their poles. 



We made our noonday halt on an island where very 

 tall trees grew, bearing fruits that were pleasant to the 

 taste. Other trees on the island were covered with rich 

 red and yellow blossoms; and masses of delicate blue 

 flowers and of star-shaped white flowers grew underfoot. 

 Hither and thither across the surface of the river flew 

 swallows, with so much white in their plumage that as 

 they flashed in the sun they seemed to have snow-white 

 bodies, borne by dark wings. The current of the river 

 grew swifter; there were stretches of broken water that 

 were almost rapids; the laboring engine strained and 

 sobbed as with increasing difficulty it urged forward the 

 launch and her clumsy consort. At nightfall we moored 

 beside the bank, where the forest was open enough to 

 permit a comfortable camp. That night the ants ate 

 large holes in Miller's mosquito-netting, and almost de- 

 voured his socks and shoe-laces. 



