July 30, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
169 
thing and come to supper, but Don Agusto said 
no; the scorpions were his friends and he never 
killed one of them. So the creature was allowed 
to go free and hastily made its way to a place 
of safety, apparently not having enjoyed its part 
in the interesting demonstration. 
We had a good supper that night, or more 
properly we had good appetites, for the day had 
been bracing, and we enjoyed the provisions, 
though they were exactly the same as we had 
eaten the night before and as we would eat dur¬ 
ing most of our journey. 
Supper over, it was bed time. My mosquito 
tent had been put under a shed, and as I turned 
in my attention was attracted by a crawling 
sound among the leaves with which the roof 
was thatched. Asking Don Pacho what it was 
he told me to wait a moment and I would see. 
Presently from under a leaf a cockroach came 
running, a big one such as we do not have at the 
North. I suppose it was over two inches long 
and perhaps half an inch wide. After it I saw 
a big scorpion scamper out, the cockroach was 
caught and that scorpion had his supper. I 
looked on in horror as I thought of sleeping 
under such a roof, for it was infested with scor¬ 
pions and cockroaches. Don Pacho only laughed, 
telling me that there was no danger, as the scor¬ 
pions would stay in the roof and keep the cock¬ 
roaches away from us, and really the cock¬ 
roaches were worse than the scorpions, for if 
it were not for the scorpions the cockroaches 
would overrun everything. I did not exactly 
fancy the situation, but being tired I was pres¬ 
ently asleep, and thought no more of the scor¬ 
pions. 
In the morning the men were stirring about 
and Vincente came to shake out the folds of my 
mosquito tent in order to drive away scorpions 
which might have collected among them. There 
must have been quite a number, for the men 
seemed to be striking at something with rapidity, 
but presently all were driven away, and I came 
out quite unharmed from what I fancied had 
been a dangerous situation, though I suppose 
there was really no danger at all. I saw how 
adaptable the mosquito tent is to the needs of 
the people in this tropical region. It not only 
keeps out the mosquitoes, but being tucked in 
carefully under the bedding, keps out scorpions, 
snakes and other creeping things which might do 
serious damage. 
Coffee was soon ready and we were off again, 
making our way up the river. Here the water 
was rougher and the men had hard work, yet 
their skill was equal to every demand, and their 
strength with the poles took us steadily forward. 
Don Agusto was steering as usual, Don Pacho 
was asleep, and I was sitting forward with the 
men watching them work and looking out over 
the country. The canoe was so large that the 
men could pass each other easily, and one after 
another they would go forward, drop their poles 
over the side and walk back, pushing as they 
went. In this way the canoe went gliding on, 
even though at times the water was rough. Fre¬ 
quently we would cross the river, seeking better 
ground for poling, and as the current was swifter 
now and the passage difficult, yet by vigorous 
work the canoe was always taken across, and 
generally made a little headway forward in the 
passage. 
After a time we came to a point in the river 
where the current was unusually swift, and it 
was desirable to cross. Word was given by Don 
Agusto and presently the men were paddling 
vigorously, yet in spite of their efforts the boat 
fell back a little, and we lost ground, though we 
of course crossed the river. Yet to lose ground 
was not pleasant when we all wished to go for¬ 
ward, so the men worked vigorously, and per¬ 
haps did not notice the water so carefully as is 
usually their custom, for when we were in the 
roughest part of the river there was a sudden 
jolt, a grinding sound and we slipped forward 
as the canoe tilted to one side, and then swung 
around. We had collided with a floating snag, a 
great partly waterlogged tree that was being 
swept down the current, with the long branches 
just showing above the surface. Here was a 
dangerous situation, for we might at any moment 
be overturned. This would certainly have hap¬ 
pened if the current changed the position of the 
tree, and if the canoe became lodged among the 
branches it would be difficult indeed to extricate 
it. 
I expected to see Don Pacho take immediate 
command, but to my surprise he did nothing. 
Motioning to me we simply sat in the center of 
the canoe and Don Agusto gave his orders. Each 
man was standing like a statue in his place, for 
any movement might throw the canoe out of bal¬ 
ance and land us all in the water. Carefully 
Don Agusto put his paddle over the side and 
gently worked the canoe around where he thought 
it might slip free from the hidden snag. Then 
he gave orders to the men to put their poles over 
the side. This they did carefully, scarcely mov¬ 
ing, though all the while feeling about to strike 
the log. Presently one of the men called out: 
“I have it.” Then Don Agusto said: “Brace 
your pole and hold it.” 
For a time we waited, the other men still feel¬ 
ing about with their poles, and'all the while the 
great snag was carrying us down the river. After 
what semed a long time Vincente from the other 
side of the boat said, “I have it.” Then Don 
Agusto called out, “Balance carefully,” and then 
the word was given, “Push,” and together the 
two men forced their strength against the poles. 
For a moment there was a grinding sound, the 
canoe tilted to one side, then gave a lurch back¬ 
ward and we were free. Hastily we made our 
way to the bank again, recovered the lost ground, 
and this time crossed the river successfully, and 
proceeded on our journey as though nothing 
had happened. 
There was apparently no very good place for 
camping, and as Don Pacho wished to make all 
the progress possible, he told one of the men to 
prepare breakfast in the canoe so. that we might 
not lose time. It was interesting to see them 
cooking. In the forward part of the boat, just 
ahead of the tolda, a box was placed and filled 
with sand taken from the river side. In this 
sand a fire was built, a small pot put on it and 
presently our breakfast was cooking, while all 
the time we were working forward. When 
breakfast was ready it was brought to the rear 
of the boat for Don Pacho and me. Then an¬ 
other portion was cooked for two of the men, 
and after this still a third portion. In this way 
we managed to keep the canoe working forward 
all the time while some of the men were eating, 
and it was fortunate that we did so, otherwise 
we would not have reached a suitable camping 
ground, for there was no place to sleep until we 
should come to the mouth of the Nechi River, 
which we were now approaching, and it was well 
along toward evening before we came to a group 
of huts where the men, well tired out, were quite 
ready for a good night’s rest. 
Here there were several huts and a number of 
people living, a little town in fact, and we were 
made welcome, Don Pacho especially, and he 
was plied with questions about the news and hap¬ 
penings of the country, especially in regard to 
the price of various commodities in which the 
people were interested. This did not concern 
me particularly, and noticing some curious birds’ 
nests, a group of them hanging from the boughs 
of a great tree, I asked the people what they 
were. Those who were nearest me said it was 
a colony of yellowtails, a bird which builds a 
long hanging nest with an entrance on the side 
which affords a secure protection for its young. 
I noticed that these birds were of large size, and 
so asked the people if they were good to eat, and 
on being told that they were, proposed that we 
should shoot some. This was quite pleasing to 
the people, and taking my gun I found a con¬ 
venient place, and as the birds went flying back 
and forth, obtained ample opportunity to shoot, 
and with the first shot brought down a fine 
specimen of yellowtail. Immediately there was 
an outcry in the colony, and I thought I detected 
the voices of young birds. On inquiry I learned 
that the yellowtails were nesting, and probably 
had young. 
This was enough. It seemed too cruel to kill 
these beautiful birds in the nesting season, and 
much to the surprise and disgust of the village 
people, I declined to do any more shooting, say¬ 
ing that one specimen was sufficient. They pro¬ 
tested and urged that I should kill more, but in 
spite of their entreaties and their evident desire 
'to enjoy a supply of birds for supper I told them 
that we in the North would never shoot in the 
nesting season, as we did not consider it proper. 
This surprised them very much and they asked, 
why not? The meat was just as good then as 
at any other time, but on being asked how the 
young birds would fare if the parents were 
killed, my companions looked at me in surprise. 
What difference could that make? No one 
wanted the young birds, and they could not seem 
to understand that shooting should not be in¬ 
dulged in during the nesting season. 
Fortunately I had killed a male bird and there 
would be no very serious consequence for the 
young, though perhaps some inconvenience for 
the mother bird, but I would not risk shooting 
any others, though the people insisted that I 
could tell by the bright yellow.tails and larger 
size which were the males, and they also claimed 
that it would be no harm to shoot all the males, 
as the mothers could take care of the young. I 
did not like it, however, and we left the colony 
to itself, and soon the great tree was swarming 
with the beautiful birds, all chattering in excite¬ 
ment and protesting against the intrusion. After 
watching for" a time I went back to the village, 
and making ready for bed, was soon comfortably 
asleep, taking due precaution to have my mos¬ 
quito tent tucked well in under the bedding to 
protect myself from the creeping insects of the 
night. 
The next morning our start was delayed. Don 
Pacho had a great deal to do in this village, and 
though there were only some six or eight houses, 
evidently some trading was in progress. All the 
men were gathered about Don Pacho discussing 
