In the course of three bends of the river, during some fifteen minutes’ observation, we observed the following in masses of sufficient size to catch the eye far off and add a decided color tone to the spot where they grew: purple pea-blooms in wisteria-like bunches; falling-star white flowers; pink two-petalled ground flowers in dense clumps; spider lilies, the large kind; red passion flowers; white tubular blooms; five-parted purple star-shaped flowers; wild cotton, in enormous masses of bloom, resembling clematis and as fragrant; long thin racemes of very fragrant, dull greenish white flowers; brush-like purple blooms, white at the base, growing sessile on the trunks, with an edible fruit, which the blacks call “Waika.” This list is exclusive of all the many inconspicuous flowers and all orchids, which were seldom out of sight. Its value lies only in giving the faintest of hints of the wonderful beauty of these jungle water trails. [Illustration: FIG. 122. A SLOTH ASLEEP.] On these upper reaches of the stream the two water birds most in evidence were Tiger Bitterns[40] and Great Rufous Kingfishers.[67] One could write pages trying to describe a single vista of this beautiful region and yet give only a hint of its charm. In one place a mighty loop of a lofty bush rope or monkey ladder with ornate woody frills decorating the edges, hangs swaying high in air across the stream. Several other giant vines have caught hold and have wormed their way in serpentine folds along the first great swing. In the spaces between these huge living cables, seeds and parasitic plants have taken root and grown, filling up the network with their aërial bulbs and in turn furnishing rootholds for an innumerable variety of flowers, ferns, orchids, mosses and lichens. The mosses are long and fan-shaped like some species of coral, and the lichens are red, pink, gray and white. The whole forms, high over our heads, an enormous hanging garden which no human ingenuity could duplicate. Two hours after starting we reached the place called Two Mouths and turned into the Little Aremu. In no place is this stream more than twenty-five feet wide, with low, sloping sandy or clay banks facing steep ones, first on the right, then on the left side, according to the bend of the stream and the force of the current. As we went along a splendid male Crested Curassow[4] flew up and was shot, to be added to our menu. Before we came in sight it was clucking softly. A splash around a bend, and sharp claw and toe marks showed where a capybara (_Hydrochoerus capybara_) had just entered the water, and from here on we found such tracks common on every sandy bank. We were amused at our steersman’s occasional orders to the crew. In places where the current was swift and poling was very difficult he would shout in a most woful and despairing voice “O Lord!”, giving us quite a start. We eventually found that he was intending this ejaculation for “Pole-hard!”