Chap. IV. 
YGAPO FOREST. 
287 
foot and a half above the glassy surface of the water, 
producing such a deceptive imitation of a snake that at 
first I had some difficulty in believing it to be the neck 
of a bird ; it did not remain long in vieW;, but soon 
plunged again beneath the stream. 
We ran ashore in a most lonely and gloomy place, on 
a low sandbank covered with bushes, secured the mon- 
taria to a tree, and then, after making a very sparing 
breakfast on fried fish and mandioca meal, rolled up 
our trousers and plunged into the thick forest, which 
here, as everywhere else, rose like a lofty wall of foliage 
from the narrow strip of beach. We made straight for 
the heart of the land, J ohn Jabuti leading, and breaking 
off at every few steps a branch of the lower trees, so 
that we might recognise the path on our return. The 
district was quite new to all my companions, and being 
on a coast almost totally uninhabited by human beings 
for some 300 miles, to lose our way would have been 
to perish helplessly. I did not think at the time of 
the risk we ran of having our canoe stolen by passing 
Indians ; unguarded montarias being never safe even 
in the ports of the villages, Indians apparently con- 
sidering them common property, and stealing them 
without any compunction. No misgivings clouded the 
lightness of heart with which we trod forwards in 
warm anticipation of a good day's sport. 
The tract of forest through which we passed was 
Ygapo, but the higher parts of the land formed areas 
which went only a very few inches under water in the 
flood season. It consisted of a most bewildering diversity 
of grand and beautiful trees, draped, festooned, corded, 
