FLOATING LOGS WERE A MASS OF LONG-LEAVED PLANTS AND SLENDER REEDS, SUR- 
ROUNDED BY BLUE-TINTED AND FRAGR: 
like those of the North, that are so partial 
to “burnings” and the tender vegetation, 
were likely to abandon a section unex- 
pectedly covered with smoke and dis- 
turbed by crackling flames, since in the 
dense and humid jungles fires are rare 
and seldom progress very far, even with 
the aid of man. 
After the house-boat had been tied up 
to a large tree, a few yards from shore, 
we were visited by the native superin- 
tendent and given a generous welcome. 
As Captain Brown was anxious to return 
to Gatun before the morning wind had 
roughened the lake, he left with Ander- 
son, who was to bring the launch back 
the next day. Less than a mile away a 
mass of floating logs was encountered, 
and the moon now being below the ho- 
rizon. we were compelled to stop until 
daylight. 
In the morning, as the sun arose, flocks 
of chattering parrots flew over, and oc- 
ANT WATER HYACINTHS (SEE PAGE 163) 
casionally a pair or two alighted on the 
higher trees, peering down on the half- 
screened boat. A shot from the cabin in 
the clearing, a descending object and a 
thud proclaimed a doubtful addition to 
the larder, an oft-repeated occurrence, 
showing that nothing was spared by the 
native hunters, for there are no game 
laws outside the Zone and no effort to 
preserve even the ornamental birds of 
the country. 
The well-earned outings of the canal 
employees were too often signalized by 
making a target of harmless, non-game 
animals and birds until Colonel Goethals 
undertook to prevent such thoughtless 
destruction. 
While there is little likelihood of any 
species living within the jungle becom- 
ing extinct, it would require but little 
effort to make the lake region a wonder- 
ful outdoor zoological garden that would 
107 
