DESCENT TO CHAGRES. 



263 



ing a mass of hanging wood. There are several 

 villages^ and at intervals there are collections of 

 cane huts^ or a single hut^ with an acre or two of 

 cleared ground^ where the grass grows around it^ 

 with gardens of bananas^ plantains^ and maize. 

 I saw pnly one alligator, which was asleep on the 

 muddy bank like a log of wood. The steers- 

 man told me that in the dry season they were 

 numerous, and were to be seen swimming 

 under the clear water. To use his Spanish ex- 

 pression, at that time of year no faltan^^ 

 there is no lack of them. 



Birds of every description, known to the 

 climate, both land and water tribes, are here 

 very interesting, and the canoemen assured me 

 that monkeys, tigers, and lions, were often to 

 be seen at particular periods of the year, when 

 they approached the banks of the river to 

 drink. 



Ulloa, who has written more minutely than 

 any modern author on South America, describes 

 in his travels, the way in which the monkeys 

 transfer themselves from one bank of the river 

 to another. They attach themselves to one of 



