A DAY AND NIGHT ON THE AMAZON. 323 



displayed, and then the mingling of the two complementary 

 colours, red and green, in the evolutions of flight, surpasses 

 description. Even the brilliant elaters, however, will scarcely 

 enable the traveller to find his way amid the darkness through 

 the forest. 



Wallace describes a midnight walk he was compelled to 

 take. He was barefooted, every moment stepping on some 

 projecting root or stone, or treading sideways on something 

 which almost dislocated his ankles. Dull clouds could just be 

 distinguished in the openings amid high-arched, overhanging 

 trees, but the pathway was invisible. Jaguars, he knew, 

 abounded, deadly serpents were plentiful, and at every step 

 he almost expected to feel a cold gliding body under his feet, 

 or deadly fangs in his leg. Gazing through the darkness, he 

 dreaded momentarily to encounter the glaring eyes of the 

 jagaur, or to hear his low growl in the thicket. To turn 

 back or stop were alike useless. Unpleasant recollections of 

 the fangs of a huge dried snake's head he had just before 

 examined, would come across his memory; and many a tale of 

 the fierceness and cunning of the jaguar would not be forgotten. 

 Suddenly he found his feet in water, and then he had to grope 

 for a narrow bridge it was necessary to cross. Of its height 

 above the water, or the depth of the stream, he was utterly 

 ignorant. To walk along a plank four inches wide, under such 

 circumstances, was a nervous matter. He proceeded, however, 

 placing one foot before the other, and balancing steadily his 

 body, till he again felt himself on firm ground. Once or 

 twice he lost his balance, but happily he was only a foot or 

 two from the ground and water below — though, had it been 

 twenty it would have been all the same. Half-a-dozen such 

 brooks and bridges had to be passed, till at length, emerging 



