The River of Doubt 267 



idly as possible. On such a trip as ours getting game is 

 largely a matter of chance. 



On the following day Lyra and Kermit brought down 

 the canoes and loads, with hard labor, to the little beach 

 by the three palms where our tents were pitched. Many 

 pacovas grew round about. 'The men used their immense 

 leaves, some of which were twelve feet long and two and 

 a half feet broad, to roof the flimsy shelters under which 

 they hung their hammocks. I went into the woods, but 

 in the tangle of vegetation it would have been a mere 

 hazard had I seen any big animal. Generally the woods 

 were silent and empty. Now and then little troops of 

 birds of many kinds passed — wood-hewers, ant-thrushes, 

 tanagers, flycatchers; as in the spring and fall similar 

 troops of warblers, chickadees, and nuthatches pass 

 through our northern woods. On the rocks and on the 

 great trees by the river grew beautiful white and lilac 

 orchids — ^the sobralia, of sweet and delicate fragrance. 

 For the moment my own books seemed a trifle heavy, 

 and perhaps I would have found the day tedious if Kermit 

 had not lent me the Oxford Book of French Verse. Eus- 

 tache Deschamp, Joachim du Bellay, Ronsard, the de- 

 lightful La Fontaine, the delightful but appalling Villon, 

 Victor Hugo's "Guitare," Madame Desbordes-Valmore's 

 lines on the little girl and her pillow, as dear little verses 

 about a child as ever were written — ^these and many 

 others comforted me much, as I read them in head-net 

 and gauntlets, sitting on a log by an unknown river in 

 the Amazonian forest. 



On the 10th we again embarked and made a kilo- 

 metre and a half, spending most of the time in getting 



