220 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS, 



and entered the charming little Biara, which was only about 

 sixty feet from shore to shore. Here the vegetation was very 

 dense, water lilies in hundreds with curious, serrated leaves 

 and a profusion of the sweetest of flowers. We were pad- 

 dling through literally a river of water-lilies. Clavillina 

 blooms hung low over our faces; wild cocoa pods showed 

 rich brown among the foliage. Mucka-mucka with its great 

 heart-shaped leaves was everywhere, a plant which on a 

 later trip was to interest us as forming the food of the Hoatzin. 

 The air was filled with the sweet penetrating calls of the 

 Goldbirds "' and Woodhewers and now and then the puppy- 

 like yaps of Toucans." Pendent nests were numerous, built 

 so far out over the water that we could touch them as we 

 passed, thus safe from marauding monkey and opossum. 



The stream was clotted with islets, varying from a few 

 inches to as many yards in circumference, crowded with 

 ferns and graceful sedges, all perfectly reflected in the mirror- 

 like water. One such islet of the smallest size was crowned 

 with a single-petalled, white calla lily, surrounded by a host 

 of tiny purple orchid blossoms; a square foot of perfect 

 beauty and perfume set in the ebony water. Seldom were 

 we out of sight of flowering orchid, vine, bush or tree. 

 Orchids were in the ascendant and our tarpaulin brushed 

 against long Golden Showers, graceful shoots of Cattleyas 

 and curious green Spider Orchids. 



There seems to be no autumn in this land, and death comes 

 only to single leaves, while the variegated scarlet and yellow 

 hues of new sprouting foliage made brilliant every bend of 

 the stream. The Moriche or Eta Palm is dominant here 

 and the vegetation of these lesser streams is dense and bushy, 

 — intimate and delightful, rather than grand and awe- 

 inspiring as along the forest rim of the Barama. 



Toucans and Ant-birds darted across the water ahead 

 of us; tree-ferns stretched out their graceful fronds and 



