250 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



x\t Camaria a series of all but impassable rapids and 

 falls occurs, and a portage of three and a half miles is neces- 

 sary. A well-made sandy wagon trail points the way, rising 

 gradually and then slowly descending again. At the top of 

 the rise the sand is of the finest and whitest quality. Butter- 

 flies were extremely abundant along this wood road, a dozen 

 splendid blue Morphos lacing sometimes in sight at once. 



One interesting species of butterfly {Casiina licus) wa^, 

 very common, flying along ahead of us with short spurts 

 and alighting on bare twigs, just within the shadow of tlie 

 jungle. They were dark brownish above, tinted with dull 

 orange and green and witli four broad streaks of white acros; 

 the wings. They were perfectly protected in the positions of 

 rest which thev chose on small bare twigs, the brown merg- 

 ing invisibly with the dark recesses of the undergrowth beyond, 

 while the white markings exactly simulated a white orchid 

 blossom, sprouting, as so many of them do, from a leafless 

 stem. As the mule cart passed laden with our luggage, we 

 seized the Graflex camera and secured the accompanying 

 photograph. In spite of their protective colors and mode 

 of resting, the wings of almost all had Ijeen nipped by birds, 

 and we saw one fall a victim to a Flycatcher. The char- 

 acteristic birds of this trail were Swallow-tailed Kites ^* and 

 Yellow-bellied Trogons,'" tire former soaring overhead every 

 few minutes and the latter dashing from cluster to cluster of 

 berries. 



In the middle of the afternoon our walk brought us to 

 Upper Camaria, where we were again on the bank of the 

 Cuyuni. Here, tied to a gigantic Mora tree, a second launch 

 awaited us, and from here to our second night's stopi)ing 

 place at JMatope we stopped only once, at Tiger Island, to 

 take a few "pork-knockers" on board. Although there were 

 only three small, hut-like houses here, there was the invari- 

 able colony of Yellow-backed Cassiques.'^^ 



