While the launch was puffing slowly along we saw one of the most unexpected sights of the trip—a fresh-water flying fish _Carnegiella strigatus_. It did not leave the surface entirely but skimmed steadily along in a straight line with the tip of the deep keel of the abdomen just cutting the surface. It was small, not more than two inches long, and of the greatest interest to us at that time, as we did not then know that such a thing as a fresh-water flying fish existed. To see a silvery little form break from the mirror-like surface of the river and go skimming off through the air left us amazed. These fish were silvery in color, marked with irregular black markings, with long, wing like pectoral fins and a remarkably deep keel, like the keel of a racing yacht. As we went on, the walls of foliage became higher and more dense, stretching up, far up above our heads, until the topmost branches were from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five feet above the water. Majestic vistas opened out ahead of us, and now and then great solid banks of flowers hung like huge tapestries upon the foliage walls. One white flower with a plume-like tuft of long slender stamens, filled whole bends of the river with its sweet perfume and formed aërial banks of bloom fifty feet square. We saw here for the first time the Green River Ibises[26] looking dull black in the sunlight. They were of the same size as Scarlet Ibises but with a shorter tail, and flapped more slowly in flight. [Illustration: FIG. 106. SALT-WATER FLYING FISH.] Just before dusk we reached the house of the government agent of this district, Mr. Nicholson, and were made welcome at his little home in the heart of the wilderness. The house is on a steep bluff of red clay, changing to yellow near the water and commanding a fine view up and down the river. Below, the river is smooth and shining, while a quarter of a mile above the house a mass of tumbling white water blocks further progress and marks the second portage. In the yard near the house one passes through a cluster of young fruit trees and here two small colonies of Yellow backed Cassiques[151] had located, clustering their pendent nests almost within arm’s reach about two big nests of stinging ants. At dusk several hundred Smooth-billed Anis[80] dropped into a clump of bamboo and with much racket and squabbling settled for the night. [Illustration: FIG. 107. CUYUNI RIVER.]