276 
The Savannah Breeze. 
agony or a portion of my light clothing. Wherever the hank was low it 
was thickly covered with guava bush that spread its smooth branches far 
over the surface of the water. 
790. A huge sandbank offered us a comfortable night’s lodging, an 
invitation that we gladly accepted because we were anxious to strike 
camp soon after midnight, so as to reach the Macusi village of Haiowa 
early in the morning. The peculiar noise produced by the Muscovy duck 
(Anas moschata ) on starting to rise, indicated already before landing, 
that our approach must have driven off whole flocks of them from their 
resting place. Everybody seized his weapon on hearing the well-known 
sound and as they flew over our heads the general salvo brought down a 
brace. They were two males of unusual size, and at the same time proved 
a welcome addition to supper. The Indians just in the same way shot 
some Plotus. 
791. About midnight I called out to the captains to strike camp. 
The moon diffused her bright enchanting light over the stream now 
smooth as a mirror, as well as over the densely-foliaged banks, while 
except for the measured stroke of the paddles, nothing disturbed the 
deadly silence that reigned throughout the whole of Nature. We might 
already have l>een travelling a few hours when through the oppressive 
sultriness a cooler breath of air, which the Indians welcomed as the 
refreshing savannah breeze, blew suddenly towards us. This often 
uncommonly violent wind is in the interior what the cool sea breeze is on 
the coast, because like it, it springs up daily. It usually rises of an 
evening about eight o’clock as a soft cooling north-easter, which towards 
midnight reaches its maximum strength when, like a whirlwind, it sweeps 
over the savannah, then gradually takes off towards daybreak, and at 
sunrise suddenly veers round to the eastward. 
792. Now at last, after a period of five weeks’ continuous restraint 
within dense natural walls, for which we had been compensated only 
occasionally by the prospect of a more or less remote mountain range, our 
eyes were to ramble free and unrestricted over a wider area, and it is of 
no use denying that I waited with impatience for break of day, for the 
far-reaching savannah where, so often subsequently, I disconsolately 
turned my gaze towards the distant horizon to discover a dark fringe 
of forest. With the approach of dawn, things around began to hum, in 
that the members of the thousand-voiced concert party started trying 
their voices, the curious deep drumming of the hokko-hens that was heard 
repeated on all sides affording us the first sign of it. The overture com- 
menced, and in it were soon joined notes of all kinds, high and low, from 
out of throats known and unknown, amongst which the yelling screams 
and whistles of the swarms of monkeys played the chief part. It seemed 
as if the latter were reminding their still sleeping comrades that the 
day was breaking. What with the uproar amongst the branches of the 
trees indicating that a pack of them was just then advancing along the 
opposite side, and the deep bass notes of the hokko-hens sounding far too 
temptingly, I could not remain any longer in the boat. With gun in 
hand, accompanied by an Indian, also with his, we jumped on shore and 
mgde our way into the gloomy forest. We soon saw two hokko-hens 
