The River of Doubt 257 



quito-net ; and they also ate the strap of Lyra's gun-case. 

 The little stingless bees, of many kinds, swarmed in such 

 multitudes, and were so persevering, that we had to wear 

 our head-nets when we wrote or skinned specimens. 



The following day was almost without rain. It was 

 delightful to drift and paddle slowly down the beautiful 

 tropical river. Until mid-afternoon the current was not 

 very fast, and the broad, deep, placid stream bent and 

 curved in every direction, although the general course 

 was northwest. The country was flat, and more of the 

 land was imder than above water. Continually we found 

 ourselves travelling between stretches of marshy forest 

 where for miles the water stood or ran among the trees. 

 Once we passed a hillock. We saw brilliantly colored 

 parakeets and trogons. At last the slow current quick- 

 ened. Faster it went, and faster, until it began to run 

 like a mill-race, and we heard the roar of rapids ahead. 

 We pulled to the right bank, moored the canoes, and 

 while most of the men pitched camp two or three of them 

 accompanied us to examine the rapids. We had made 

 twenty kilometres. 



We soon f oimd that the rapids were a serious obstacle. 

 There were many curls, and one or two regular falls, 

 perhaps six feet high. It would have been impossible 

 to run them, and they stretched for nearly a mile. The 

 carry, however, which led through woods and over rocks 

 in a nearly straight line, was somewhat shorter. It was 

 not an easy portage over which to carry heavy loads and 

 drag heavy dugout canoes. At the point where the de- 

 scent was steepest there were great naked flat of friable 

 sandstone and conglomerate. Over parts of these, where 



