CROSSING THE JURUENA 205 



forehead and rump and two very long tail-feathers ; a 

 black and slate-blue tanager ; a black ant-thrush with a 

 concealed white spot on its back, at the base of the neck, 

 and its dull-coloured mate ; and other birds which he 

 believed to be new to science, but whose relationships 

 with any of our birds are so remote that it is hard to 

 describe them save in technical language. Finally, 

 among these unfamiliar forms was a veery, and the sight 

 of the rufous-olive back and faintly spotted throat of 

 this singer of our northern Junes made us almost home- 

 sick. 



Next day was brilliantly clear. The mules could not 

 be brought in until quite late in the morning, and we 

 had to march twenty miles under the burning tropical 

 sun, right in the hottest part of the day. From a rise 

 of ground we looked back over the vast, sunlit land- 

 scape, the endless rolling stretches of low forest. Mid- 

 way on our journey we crossed a brook. The dogs 

 minded the heat much. They continually ran off to 

 one side, lay down in a shady place, waited until we 

 were several hundred yards ahead, and then raced after 

 us, overtook us, and repeated the performance. The 

 pack-train came in about sunset ; but we ourselves 

 reached the Juruena in the middle of the afternoon. 



The Juruena is the name by which the Tapajos goes 

 along its upper course. Where we crossed, it was a 

 deep, rapid stream, flowing in a heavily wooded valley 

 with rather steep sides. We were ferried across on the 

 usual balsa, a platform on three dugouts, running by 

 the force of the current on a wire trolley. There was 

 a clearing on each side, with a few palms, and on the 

 farther bank were the buildings of the telegraph station. 

 This is a wild country, and the station was guarded by 

 a few soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Marino, 



