STEAMER AND LAUNCH TO HOORIE CREEK. i6i 



rivers of the Canadian forest — tlic spruces and firs are 

 clean-trunked, tapering to tall, isolated, symmetrical sum- 

 mits. Here the very opposite conditions exist; solid massive 

 walls of black foliage, with almost never a glimpse of trunk 

 and bark. Most characteristic arc the long, slender bush- 

 ropes or lianas. In the forest they arc thick, gnarled and 

 knotted; there we get the vivid feeling of serpentine struggles 

 in the terribly slow but none the less remorseless striving for 

 light and air, but along the rivers the lianas are pendent 

 threads or cables — straight as plummets and often a hundred 

 feet in length. These give a decorative aspect to the scene 

 unlike any other type of forest — temperate or northern. 



In the moonlight the aj^pearance of the walls of foliage 

 is like painted scenery. Their blackness and impenetrability 

 give a feeling of flatness and the summit outiines arc crudely 

 regular. The dominant sound at night along the Barama 

 was a sweet tinkling as of tiny bells, all in unison and har- 

 mony, but with a range of at least four half-tones. The 

 tree-toads clinging here and there to leaves and flowers 

 throughout the jungle fill this whole region with the melody 

 of their chimes; striking the minutes as if with a thousand 

 tiny anvils, and only too often leading some enemy to their 

 hiding places. 



We woke at early dusk and climbing out upon the bow 

 of the tent-boat watched the coming of the tropical day. 

 The medley of fairy bells was still bravely ringing, but as the 

 dawn approached, the little nocturnal musicians ceased 

 tolling and the chorus died out with a few faint, final tinkles. 

 Six o'clock, and the sunshine upon the tree-tops brought a 

 burst of sound from the Woodhewers, a succession of twelve 

 to twenty loud, ringing tones in a rapidly descending scale — 

 Canyon Wren-like and taken up continuously from far and 

 near. The very tang and crispness of the early dawn 

 seemed to inspire the quality of their notes. 



