up the River of Tapirs 139 



in substantially similar clothes, the difference being that 

 those of the camaradas, the poorer men or laborers, were 

 in tatters. In the canoes no man wore anything save a 

 shirt, trousers, and hat, the feet being bare. On horse- 

 back they wore long leather leggings which were really 

 simply high, rather flexible boots with the soles off; their 

 spurs were on their tough bare feet. There was every 

 gradation between and among the nearly pure whites, 

 negroes, and Indians. On the whole, there was most 

 white blood in the upper ranks, and most Indian and 

 negro blood among the camaradas; but there were ex- 

 ceptions in both classes, and there was no discrimination 

 on account of color. All alike were courteous and 

 friendly. 



The hounds were at first carried in two of the dug- 

 outs, and then let loose on the banks. We went up- 

 stream for a couple of hours against the swift current, 

 the paddlers making good headway with their pointed 

 paddles — ^the broad blade of each paddle was tipped with 

 a long point, so that it could be thrust into the mud to 

 keep the low dugout against the bank. The tropical 

 forest came down almost like a wall, the tall trees laced 

 together with vines, and the spaces between their trunks 

 filled with a low, dense jungle. In most places it could 

 only be penetrated by a man with a machete. With few 

 exceptions the trees were unknown to me, and their 

 native names told me nothing. On most of them the 

 foliage was thick; among the exceptions were the ce- 

 cropias, growing by preference on new-formed alluvial 

 soil bare of other trees, whose rather scanty leaf bunches 

 were, as I was informed, the favorite food of sloths. 



