252 



OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



circle, then with a sudden straight rush, then a circle and so 

 on, all apparently without a single wing beat. When thus high 

 in air they have a most peculiar arrow-shaped appearance; 

 thin sharp beak, slender neck and body, and broad, fan- 

 shaped tail. 



While the launch was puffing slowly along we saw one 

 of the most unexpected sights of the trip — a fresh-water 

 flying fish Carnegiella strigalus. It did not leave the sur- 

 face entirely but skimmed steadily along in a straight line 

 with the tip of the deep keel of the abdomen just cutting the 



Fig. 105. Fresh-w.-\ter Flying Fish. 



surface. It was small, not more than two inches long, and 

 of the greatest interest to us at that time, as wc did not then 

 know that such a thing as a fresh-water flying fish existed. 

 To see a silvery litde form break from the mirror-like surface 

 of the river and go skimming off through the air left us amazed. 



Thesi; fish were silvery in color, marked with irregular 

 black markings, with long, wing-like pectoral fins and a 

 remarkably deep keel, like the keel of a racing vacht. 



As we went on, the walls of foliage became higher and more 

 dense, stretching up, far up above our heads, until the topmost 

 branches were from one hundred to one hundred and twenty- 

 five feet above the water. INIajestic vistas opened out ahead 



