146 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



under the delusion that that was their proper and very 

 appropriate name. 



Mr King's garden was a constant source of interest be- 

 cause of the flowers, the insects and the birds. In the top 

 of a dead shrub a good-sized yellow flowered orchid had 

 been tied. This, during the last rainy season, had evidently 

 dropped seeds, some of which had clung to the branches 

 beneath and then sprouted. When we saw them, there 

 were twenty or more of these diminutive orchids scattered 

 over the shrub, each with four tiny clinging rootlets, a three- 

 parted leaflet and in the centre one blossom as big as the 

 entire plant, the whole not larger than a shilling. 



Two large species of lizards lived in the garden, the common 

 iguana which climbed the trees and fed on leaves and buds, 

 and another, called locally Salapenta {Teius nigra punctatus), 

 which included carrion, chicks and even fish in its bill of fare. 

 They would now and then dive into a small pond and appear 

 with a small fish in their jaws. 



The last evening of our stay at Mr. King's we spent sitting 

 on the wharf looking out over Mora Passage. The ripples 

 died from the wake of the steamer as she vanished around 

 a bend on her way back to Georgetown. A cool refreshing 

 breeze blew toward us as the sun's light faded and a dense 

 flock of more than a hundred Amazon Parrots flew overhead. 

 Our shadows changed from sharp black outlines thrown on 

 the water before us to faint gray shapes, moon-cast on the 

 crab-wood boards behind. 



The tangle of palms and liana-draped trees across the 

 Passage became more indistinct and the brilliant moon- 

 light lit up the swirling brown current. An Indian boy 

 passed silently in a narrow curiara. We were his friends— 

 we had given him sixpence and he was off to the little store 

 amid the low thatched huts a few hundred yards down the 

 river, which marked Morawhanna. We knew him only as 



