TROPICAL FOLIAGE 153 



other trees. But they were never as tall as the giants 

 among the ordinary 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 httle opening, 

 there hung well over a hundred troupials' nests. Be- 

 sides 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 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 

 disc of wood, were tilted on their poles. 



We made our noon-day 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 labouring 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. 



