164 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



of the houses ; men stood in front of them. The biggest 

 house was enclosed by a stockade 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 devoured 

 his socks and shoe-laces. 



At sunrise we again started. There were occasional 

 stretches of swift, broken water, almost rapids, in the 

 river ; everywhere the current was swift, and our progress 

 was slow. The prancha was towed at the end of a haw- 

 ser, and her crew poled. Even thus we only just made 

 the riffle in more than one case. Two or three times 

 cormorants and snake-birds, perched on snags in the river 

 or on trees alongside it, permitted the boat to come within 

 a few yards. In one piece of high forest we saw a party 



