In sheltered places along the bank our canoe pushed through unbroken masses of the floating rosettes of leaves, known as the Shell Flower (_Pistia stratiodes_). The leaves are shell-shaped, thick, strongly ribbed and light velvety green in color, covered with a coat of short, dense hairs which repel the water so that when pushed beneath the surface the plant bobs up as dry as before. Thousands of these little plants become detached from their sheltered bays and are carried out to sea where they decay and disappear. Small Water Hyacinths were less common. The river was full from recent rains in the interior, and in some places for several hundred yards the surface was thickly covered with innumerable small yellow blossoms splashed with scarlet at their hearts, while every now and then a large purple pea-blossom would be seen. These had doubtless fallen from the tree-tops where the river was narrower and the vines and branches overhung the stream. Many insects were carried down afloat on the blossoms and now and then a great hairy tarantula would appear, with each of his eight feet in a blossom, trying to keep his balance until he could reach solid ground again. [Illustration: FIG. 90. SCENE ON THE BARRABARRA.] Agami Herons,[39] beautiful in their plumage of glossy green, chestnut and blue, were standing here and there in the shallows snatching the insects from the petals as they floated past. At four o’clock in the afternoon we left the Barramanni River which had averaged about two hundred feet in width, and entered the charming little Biara, which was only about sixty feet from shore to shore. Here the vegetation was very dense, water lilies in hundreds with curious, serrated leaves and a profusion of the sweetest of flowers. We were paddling through literally a river of water-lilies. Clavillina blooms hung low over our faces; wild cocoa pods showed rich brown among the foliage. Mucka-mucka with its great heart-shaped leaves was everywhere, a plant which on a later trip was to interest us as forming the food of the Hoatzin. The air was filled with the sweet penetrating calls of the Goldbirds[115] and Woodhewers and now and then the puppy-like yaps of Toucans.[81] Pendent nests were numerous, built so far out over the water that we could touch them as we passed, thus safe from marauding monkey and opossum. The stream was dotted with islets, varying from a few inches to as many yards in circumference, crowded with ferns and graceful sedges, all perfectly reflected in the mirror-like water. One such islet of the smallest size was crowned with a single-petalled, white calla lily, surrounded by a host of tiny purple orchid blossoms; a square foot of perfect beauty and perfume set in the ebony water. Seldom were we out of sight of flowering orchid, vine, bush or tree. Orchids were in the ascendant and our tarpaulin brushed against long Golden Showers, graceful shoots of Cattleyas and curious green Spider Orchids.