214 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



were several such holes, and iguanas working at them. 

 The snake had crushed its prey to a pulp ; and not more 

 than a couple of feet away another iguana was stUl 

 busily, and with entire unconcern, engaged in making 

 its burrow. At MiEer's approach the anaconda left the 

 dead iguana and rushed into the water, and the live 

 iguana promptly followed it. Miller also told of the 

 stone gods and altars and temples he had seen in the 

 great Colombian forests, monuments of strange civiliza- 

 tions which flourished and died out ages ago, and of 

 which all memory has vanished. He and Cherrie told 

 of giant rivers and waterfalls, and of forests never pene- 

 trated, and mountains never ascended by civilized man ; 

 and of bloody revolutions that devastated the settled 

 regions. Listening to them I felt that they could 

 write " Tales of Two Naturalists " that would be worth 

 reading. 



They were short of literature, by the way — a party 

 such as ours always needs books — and as Kermit's 

 reading-matter consisted chiefly of Camoens and other 

 Portuguese, or else Brazilian, writers, I strove to supply 

 the deficiency with spare volumes of Gibbon. At the 

 end of our march we were usually far ahead of the 

 mule- train, and the rain was also usually falling. 

 Accordingly we would sit about under trees, or under 

 a shed or lean-to, if there was one, each solemnly 

 reading a volume of Gibbon — and no better reading 

 can be found. In my own case, as I had been having 

 rather a steady course of Gibbon, I varied him now and 

 then with a volume of Arsfene Lupin lent me by Kermit. 



There were many swollen rivers to cross at this point 

 of our journey. Some we waded at fords. Some we 

 crossed by rude bridges. The larger ones, such as the 

 Juina, we crossed by ferry, and when the approaches 



