50 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



is piled the passengers' baggage, and this is where we spent the 

 greater portion of our time when not driven in by the heat. Next 

 come the staterooms, eight in number ; then an open space, where 

 we dined ; and in rear the pantry and bathroom. Still higher is 

 the pilot-house. The staterooms are small, perfectly plain, with a 

 single canvas cot in each. No bedding is supplied by the boat, so 

 a part of every passenger's baggage is a roll of matting, a pillow, 

 and a mosquito net. The fare is sixty dollars in paper to Yeguas, 

 staterooms ten dollars extra. The river steamers are compelled by 

 law to carry a doctor. Ours was a native, and the captain was from 

 Curagao. 



Our boat was in a side channel of the Magdalena, and had to go 

 down about a mile before entering the main stream. This side 

 channel was evidently the laundry for the town. The washerwomen 

 waded out from its shores up to their waists, and pounded their 

 soiled clothes on half-submerged drift logs which were scattered 

 along. When we entered the main stream, we turned short about 

 and headed due south. We went along slowly ; the river was very 

 high, muddy, and swift ; and, besides, we had lashed to our side 

 a large lighter, or " bongo," filled with extra freight that we had 

 to take up the river with us. The country was inundated in all 

 rlirections, and no high land was in sight. We saw thousands of 

 water-birds of many kinds : white herons and egrets ; large gray and 

 black herons {Ardea cocoi)^ somewhat like our blue heron ; a species 

 of large tern, its body and tail appearing whitish, and its primaries, 

 in strong contrast, black {Phaethusa magnirostris). This tern we 

 found abundant for four hundred miles up the river. The river 

 was so high that no sand-bars were exposed, else we would have 

 seen numbers of alligators ; however, before dark we saw a few large 

 ones on some logs. The native name is ^' cayman." I was told 

 that there were several species. Shooting at them from the steamers 

 was prohibited by law some years ago, owing to careless shooting 

 by which a native woman on shore was killed ; but our captain 

 gave us permission to shoot when we got farther up the river. 



