2J2 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



ing out the hard wood of the big tree, with axe and adze, 

 while watch and ward were kept over them to see that the 

 idlers did not shirk at the expense of the industrious. 

 Kermit and Lyra again hunted ; the former shot a curas- 

 sow, which was welcome, as we were endeavoring in all 

 ways to economize our food supply. We were using 

 the tops of palms also. I spent the day hunting in the 

 woods, for the most part by the river, but saw nothing. 

 In the season of the rains game is away from the river 

 and fish are scarce and turtles absent. Yet it was pleas- 

 ant to be in the great silent forest. Here and there grew 

 immense trees, and on some of them mighty buttresses 

 sprang from the base. The lianas and vines were of 

 every size and shape. Some were twisted and some 

 were not. Some came down- straight and slender from 

 branches a hundred feet above. Others curved like long 

 serpents around the trunks. Others were like knotted 

 cables. In the shadow there was little noise. The wind 

 rarely moved the hot, humid" air. There were few flowers 

 or birds. Insects were altogether too abundant, and even 

 when travelling slowly it was impossible always to avoid 

 them — ^not to speak of our constant companions the bees, 

 mosquitoes, and especially the boroshudas or bloodsuck- 

 ing flies. Now while bursting through a tangle I dis- 

 turbed a nest of wasps, whose resentment was active; 

 now I heedlessly stepped among the outliers of a small 

 party of the carnivorous foraging ants ; now, grasping a 

 branch as I stumbled, I shook down a shower of fire- 

 ants ; and among all these my attention was particularly 

 arrested by the bite of one of the giant ants, which stung 

 like a hornet, so that I felt it for three hours. The cama- 



