32 
THE GOLDEN RIVER, 
sheet over the lip of the cliff, leaving a shadowy 
space behind the water. A rock pigeon flew out 
from here and darted back again, unperturbed 
by the roar of the water. A yellow butterfly 
fluttered across through the spray to the further 
side, and took no harm. Countless ferns 
clustered round the edge, and a red lily grew 
in the crevice of the rock, holding its wet face 
to the warm mist. 
Everything was lush and scented and green. 
We made our vv^ay to another point of view, 
slipping and sliding on the red soil, catching at 
maidenhair fern and flowers to keep our 
balance. It was difficult to imagine anything 
more beautiful than the feathery loveliness of 
these waterfalls, set in their background of 
tropical forest. 
At Guayra we were stunned by the savage 
strength of water : here we were entranced by 
its delicate beauty. Below us the columns of 
water fell in smooth sheets of white and pale 
amber, and through the gold and green of the 
trees we could see the distant silver gleam of 
further Falls. The air was tremulous with the 
sound of them, and, except for that sound, the 
woods were very still. They seemed almost, in 
their unfamiliar beauty, a painted scene. 
It was the magic forest of fairy tales. 
Stepping softly under the tree-ferns, and 
through the waist-high tangle of vegetation, 
might one not part the wide leaves and come 
