ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
First of all, it is so big that you seldom see both sides 
of the river at a time; its waters are muddy and filthy; 
its climate is damp, oppressive, and unhealthy; its vege¬ 
tation, when you are near enough the banks to see it, is 
entangled, half-rotted, and smelly. All the way one’s 
nostrils are offended by the fetid odour of mud and de¬ 
cayed vegetable matter. 
People in Europe seem imbued with the idea that, 
as you go along the Amazon, you must be attracted by 
the great number of birds of beautiful plumage, insects 
and butterflies of all sizes and amazing colours. Oc¬ 
casionally, especially in the early morning and at sunset, 
one does notice perhaps a flock of green paroquets with 
yellow foreheads, notable for their peculiar, clumsy,. rapid, 
wing-flapping flight and their harsh shrieks when settling 
on the trees. Occasionally, too, one may see a family of 
larger parrots dashing across the sky; but, indeed, birds 
in the lower Amazon are not plentiful by any means, nor, 
indeed, is their plumage particularly attractive, most 
birds, except the parrots, being small and very soberly 
tinted. 
As for the melodious songs of birds which civilized 
people always imagine in the equatorial forest — the song 
that will set you dreaming while you are basking under 
palm trees — the actual traveller will find the greatest 
disappointment of all in that respect. With one or two 
exceptions, such as the Troglodytes fuscus, a small brown 
wren which emits sweet musical notes, most birds of the 
Amazon have grating voices and harsh piercing whistles, 
or monotonous deep repetitions of two or three funereal 
notes which are more apt to drive you insane than to 
fascinate you. Among the most unmusical singers of 
the lower Amazon may be counted the several families 
of finches and fly-catchers, and the local thrushes, which 
feed on ants. 
Similar disappointment awaits one in regard to the 
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