Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/189

Rh the steep, rocky heights grew an infinite variety of trees and shrubs, amid which hung splendid orchids, with red, yellow, white, and purple flowers, around which hovered swarms of green humming-birds. Nearest to the river grew trees and shrubs of bamboo, bending down towards the water with a movement of such incomparable grace, that it enchanted me, and made me almost melancholy. The shadow of the hills fell over the river, which, perfectly calm, lay with its tropical world, like a beautiful mystery before us. Thus advanced we onward hour after hour, and at every new bend of the river discovered new beauties, but all of the same character—palms, aloes, bamboos, orchids, humming-birds. A lovely white bird flew continually in advance of us for some time, alighting on the banks to rest, and then flying on again when we approached, only anew to show us the way; they called it the gazza. But the sun ascended, and there was not a breath of air in that deep glen. The boys who rowed us poured, every now and then, water down their throats from the spout of a clay vessel, in such a manner that the stream of water flowed straight into their stomachs without any appearance of swallowing. They held their heads slanting backwards, their mouths wide open, and the clay spout at some distance from their mouths, and in this way the water flowed down their throats for several seconds, after which they cried or groaned out Ave Maria! laughed, and rowed on.

We landed at a little bend of the river, and ate our breakfast under some beautiful bamboo trees, whilst the humming-birds danced over their red flowers around us.

I took a walk along the banks of the river, which is here very narrow. A couple of ruinous wooden houses stood upon the opposite bank; the most lovely groups of palms and bamboos were scattered beside the river. The whole scene had a luxuriant and paradisiacally wild appearance. Crabs, and that species of craw-fish which is called in