A WATER-PATH 



389 



and left from the principal road, leading to the scattered 

 houses of Indians on the mainland. The dell contracts 

 gradually towards the head of the rivulet, and the forest 

 then becomes denser ; the water-path also diminishes in 

 width, and becomes more winding, on account of the 

 closer growth of the trees. The boughs of some are 

 stretched forth at no great height over one's head, and 

 are seen to be loaded with epiphytes ; one orchid I 

 noticed particularly, on account of its bright yellow 

 flowers growing at the end of flower-stems several feet 

 long. Some of the trunks, especially those of palms, close 

 beneath their crowns, were clothed with a thick mass of 

 glossy shield-shaped Pothos plants, mingled with ferns. 

 Arrived at this part we were, in fact, in the heart of the 

 virgin forest. We heard no noises of animals in the trees, 

 and saw only one bird, the sky-blue chatterer, sitting 

 alone on a high branch. For some distance the lower 

 vegetation was so dense that the road runs under an arcade 

 of foliage, the branches having been cut away only 

 sufficiently to admit of the passage of a small canoe. 

 These thickets are formed chiefly of Bamboos, whose 

 slender foliage and curving stems arrange themselves in 

 elegant, feathery bowers : but other social plants — 

 slender green climbers with tendrils so eager in aspiring 

 to grasp the higher boughs that they seem to be endowed 

 almost with animal energy, and certain low trees having 

 large elegantly-veined leaves, contribute also to the 

 jungly masses. Occasionally we came upon an uprooted 

 tree lying across the path, its voluminous crown still held 

 up by thick cables of sipo, connecting it with standing 

 trees : a wide circuit had to be made in these cases, and 

 it was sometimes difflcult to find the right path again. 



At length we arrived at our journey's end. We were 

 then in a very dense and gloomy part of the forest : we 

 could see, however, the dry land on both sides of the creek, 

 and to our right a small sunny opening appeared, the 

 landing-place to the native dwellings. The water was 

 deep close to the bank, and a clean pathway ascended 

 from the shady port to the buildings, which were about a 

 furlong distant. My friend Cardozo was godfather to a 

 grandchild of Pedro-uassu, whose daughter had married 

 an Indian settled in Ega. He had sent word to the old 

 man that he intended to visit him : we were therefore 

 expected. 



