up the River of Tapirs 163 



— rising almost from the ground. The fronds were of 

 great length ; some could not have been less than fifty feet 

 long. Bushes and tall grass, dew-drenched and glittering 

 with the green of emeralds, grew in the open spaces be- 

 tween. We left at sunrise the following morning. One 

 of the sailors had strayed inland. He got turned round 

 and could not find the river ; and we started before discov- 

 ering his absence. We stopped at once, and with much 

 difficulty he forced his way through the vine-laced and 

 thorn-guarded jungle toward the sound of the launch's 

 engines and of the bugle which was blown. In this dense 

 jungle, when the sun is behind clouds, a man without a 

 compass who strays a hundred yards from the river may 

 readily become hopelessly lost. 



As we ascended the river the wawasa palms became 

 constantly more numerous. At this point, for many 

 miles, they gave their own character to the forest on the 

 river banks. Everywhere their long, curving fronds rose 

 among the other trees, and in places their lofty trunks 

 made them hold their heads higher than the other trees. 

 But they were never as tall as the giants among the ordi- 

 nary trees. On one towering palm we noticed a mass of 

 beautiful violet orchids growing from the side of the 

 trunk, half-way to the top. On another big tree, not a 

 palm, which stood in a little 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 



