504 
as he is, he will crawl into the water in 
a minute. It takes lots of lead for 
these big alligators, although, with the 
high-power rifles and soft-nose bullets, 
the tough hide and horny plates are not 
much of a protection. You enjoy kill- 
ing your first alligator; perhaps you 
kill one or two more (“for the teeth”) ; 
then you, also, paddle by and don’t 
shoot. What’s the use? It is like 
RECREATION 
and menace you with a baying, roll- 
ing volume of sound like some huge 
hound. This sound is the first one 
heard in the morning and the last one 
at night, and comes booming across the 
forest to be answered from all direc- 
tions by the leaders of other bands. 
Again the guide points, or you your- 
self see, big black birds fly from the 
river bank back into the trees. The 

A FEW OF THE CHOLAS, PAINTED FOR THE OCCASION 
Their “‘best clothes” consist of beads, girdles and regalias 
shooting at a log and just as much 
danger to yourself. 
Your idea of the sluggishness of an 
alligator is changed, however, when 
your bullet touches a big fellow with- 
out hurting him much; then you see 
your log-like, clumsy-looking monster 
whirl like a flash and lunge into the 
water quicker than seems credible to 
those who have not seen it done. 
Around another bend and the guide, 
with eyes everywhere, says “Monos,” 
and points out a band of big black 
monkeys feeding or traveling through 
the trees. ‘You ican land ‘and. walk 
directly beneath them before they start 
away. You can see the females with 
their little ones clinging to their backs 
and the big males will stop and growl 
guide’s ““Pavo”’ is not needed for you to 
know that these are the big turkeys of 
which you have heard. Out you jump, 
as soon as the bow of the canoe touches 
the shore. Go quietly and watch the 
large trees; there is a hen turkey; bet- 
ter shoot her, or better yet, that young 
bird there to the right. Yes, you can 
kill the big gobbler, but he will be as 
tough as leather. You return to your 
boat with your turkeys and continue on 
past trees where colonies of the oro 
pendula, or great yellow-and-black 
orioles, have woven their pendent nests, 
hanging from four to six feet in length 
from the tip of some drooping limb; 
past flocks of noisy parrots and silent 
reptile hawks, rubber trees and orchids, 
copaiba and mahogany; now and again 
