424 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



them. In an hour we could have loaded our canoe 

 with birds, of which one or two brace would be con- 

 sidered a fair morning's work. But we did not 

 know what to do with them, and, besides, these were 

 not what we were looking for. A single flock of 

 flamingoes flew by us, but out of reach, and at the 

 moment we were stuck in the mud. Our Indian 

 made horrible work in setting us, and continued to 

 hit every flat till we reached the head of the bay, 

 and entered a branch like a creek. Unable to hold 

 discourse with him, and supposing that he was set- 

 ting right, we continued to move slowly up the stream, 

 until we found that we were getting beyond the re- 

 gion of birds ; but the scene was so quiet and peace- 

 ful that we were loth to return ; and still on each 

 bank the snowy plumage of the white ibis appeared 

 among the green of the trees, and the heron stood 

 like a statue in the water, turning his long neck al- 

 most imperceptibly, and looking at us. But we had 

 no time for quiet enjoyment, and turned back. Near 

 the mouth of the creek a flock of roseate spoonbills 

 flew over our heads, also out of reach, but we saw 

 where they alighted, and setting toward them till 

 we were stopped by a mud-bank, we took to the 

 water, or rather to the mud, in which we found our 

 lower members moving suddenly downward to parts 

 unknown, and in some danger of descending till our 

 sombreros only remained as monuments of our mud- 

 dy grave. Extricating ourselves, moving in another 

 direction, and again sinking and drawing back, for 



