THE LAKE OF PITCH. 63 



and heavy-bodied insects which scamper over die rim are 

 often clogged and drawn down to death. A jaguar, leaping 

 after a Jacana, slipped in shortly before we came and made 

 a terrible fight for life. Half blinded, its struggles carried 

 it only farther outward, but fortunately the end came mer- 

 cifully soon. 

 All the rest of the lake is a varied expanse of black pitch 



Fig. 32. Amazon Paekot Roost, Pitch Lake. 



bubbles, short grass, clumps of fern and sedge, with occasional 

 isolated palms. Flowers of many kinds and colors spring 

 from the heart of the raw pitch itself. Jacanas ^^ rise before 

 us with loud cries and flashing wings of gold. One may 

 walk over the lake at will, morning and evening, but in the 

 heat of midday, in many places, one's shoes sink quickly 

 unless one keeps constantly on the move. 



White is not a very common color in nature, and yet here, 

 in striking contrast with the inky blackness of the pitch, most 

 of the birds show large patches of this color. In the dis- 



