Canoeing in Tropical America. 
II.—Egret Farming Along Colombian Rivers—A Mutinous 
Canoeman 
By FRANCIS C. NICHOLAS 
A FTER we had rested for a time, had slept 
a little, and the men had talked until the 
latest gossip of the town from which 
they had come was exhausted, we prepared to 
continue on to find a good camping place for the 
night. 
By camping it is hardly meant the outdoor life 
that we enjoy so much in American woods. We 
camp in a house and solicit the charity of whom¬ 
soever we meet, for in Southern countries every¬ 
one is a traveler at times, and as there are no 
hotels, everyone must solicit conveniences from 
his neighbor, and as all must ask, rarely is one 
refused. 
The sun was now hanging lower, the intense 
ruddy light of its tropical brilliance was all 
about us, the breeze had gone down, and the air 
was still and hot. I noticed that the men while 
working perspired continually, but they seemed 
not to mind it, though the heat was evidently as 
oppressive on them as on all of us. 
On our way we passed a very interesting ex¬ 
ample of egret farming. The beautiful little 
white heron which supplies the plumes with 
which our women add such pleasant adornments 
to their hats is here a domestic bird, and lives 
contentedly about the houses, its wings clipped, 
of course, but from this it seems to suffer no 
inconvenience, and quite enjoys being chased 
about by the children or contending for food 
with dogs and pigs, and I noticed that the do¬ 
mestic animals had due respect for its sharp 
beak. I had never seen an egret farm, though 
the few birds kept in confinement around the 
native house we were passing could perhaps not 
be designated by that term, yet this was some¬ 
thing I had not noticed, so I asked the men to 
stop that I might make inquiries. Gomez made 
no objection; in fact, Don Pacho was as great 
a talker as there was on the river, and he never 
missed an opportunity to exchange gossip with 
the men of a village, and ofttimes with the 
women, among whom he was a high favorite. 
For my part I went with the owner of the es¬ 
tablishment to see his birds and found that he 
had quite a number of them. He complained 
bitterly of the crocodiles and alligators, assuring 
me that if these could be gotten out of the way, 
egret farming would be more than ordinarily 
profitable. He told me that the birds were quite 
able to feed themselves, though after a year or 
so they became lazy, and those that had been 
longest in confinement generally spent their time 
about the house, while others made their way 
into the swamps, or up and down the river, 
wading about, looking for food. At night time 
all would come home to roost, but never a week 
passed in which some were not lost. My host 
said that he had something over a hundred birds 
and that each one gave him eighty cents gold 
twice a year with no expense whatever and very 
little trouble, except to go some night, when 
they were in proper condition, and pluck the 
feathers. 
This was particularly interesting to me because 
at the time of my last visit to Colombia there 
was quite an agitation among the bird lovers that 
the beautiful white egret was doomed, and efforts 
were being made to prevent the importation of 
egret plumes. Judging from what I saw along 
the Magdalena River, it is my opinion that in 
place of being doomed to destruction the white 
egret is in fair progress of becoming a domestic 
bird. 
After thanking my host and making him a 
trifling present, we started on again, the men 
somewhat reluctant because they thought it a 
good place to camp, but Gomez said we should 
be nearer the mouth of the Cauca River, as on 
the morrow a long stretch of swampy, unin¬ 
habited country must be passed, unless we wish¬ 
ed to sleep on a mud bank. That would not be 
pleasant. The men seemed to understand, and 
were now quite willing to go on. I noticed that 
most of the little mud houses inhabited by the 
negroes about the river had a number of white 
egrets standing about them, and it is quite evi¬ 
dent that keeping these birds in captivity is 
something of an industry in a small way. 
After we had gone on for some time the sun 
became less oppressive, and then a little further 
on, and the men began to sing a queer sort 'of 
boating refrain to which they kept time with 
their poles and feet and while walking up and 
down the canoe. The words were of a character 
which would not be proper to repeat here, but 
in Spanish America they are not particular, and 
express their sentiments in very broad terms, 
a custom derived apparently from old Spain, 
where the ideas of propriety are somewhat dif¬ 
ferent from those held in English-speaking coun¬ 
tries. Consequently we can imagine what the 
songs of my ignorant boatmen were like. As 
we passed near the houses impudent remarks 
were shouted to women on shore, and these were 
given back in kind, so that now when the cool 
of the day had come, our progress was more or 
less of a frolic, the men laughing and shouting 
and heartily enjoying themselves. Gomez had a 
good time, too, and was continually laughing at 
the remarks made by the men or applauding the 
impudent replies of the women shouted back as 
we passed close to the shore. For my part I 
could not understand all the jokes, though the 
coarseness was quite apparent, and is spoken of 
now only to illustrate conditions of life among 
the lower class in the Southern countries. 
We had been going forward for some time 
when I suddenly felt a sharp stinging pain on 
my cheek, and giving a vigorous slap, found I 
had killed a mosquito which, to my mind, seemed 
unusually large. Presently Gomez killed another 
and then began to squirm about in his seat. 
Gomez was fat and his pantaloons were a snug 
fit. Now and then the men would slap their 
faces, and then as by common impulse made 
all haste to a house on the other side of the 
river. It was time for us to camp. The plague 
was coming. It was not a pretentious house, 
but was a sort of mud and thatched construction 
covering a bamboo frame which was supported 
on posts. Under the house there were some 
pigs wallowing in the mud. Refuse, so unpleas¬ 
antly noticeable in these parts, was lying where 
it had been thrown out. There were a few white 
herons coming home to roost and some chickens. 
This was all the people had, and evidently they 
were poor. Back of the house there was a plan¬ 
tain grove growing with a luxuriance such as I 
have rarely seen. My friends were very black, 
but also very courteous and not at all disrespect¬ 
ful, so it was a pleasure to accept their hospi¬ 
tality so courteously and kindly given. 
Supper was ready and we were invited to par¬ 
take with them of what they had, but for Don 
Pacho and myself a table was spread at one side. 
There we were served and neither the members 
of the family nor my men seemed to have any 
idea of eating until we had partaken of sufficient 
food. This did not seem exactly right, so I 
made a motion that I wished them to eat also, 
and they did without further ceremony. Sitting 
or standing around the rough table on which the 
food was served, chattering and talking, they 
thoroughly enjoyed themselves. This lasted for 
a little time, and then as the sun went down and 
the mosquitoes came up, my good host hung my 
mosquito tent at a convenient place, and I, not 
used to such visitations, made a dive for its pro¬ 
tective folds, and much to the amusement of the 
company sat inside my shelter, saying I would 
talk to them from there. Gomez followed my 
example, but the others did not seem to mind 
much, and sat up a long while laughing and talk- 
