. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . hthey were full-winged and had the run of the clearing. TheTrumpeter went to roost each night at as punctually asif he had a watch under his wing. He slept standing on oneleg, resting on the first joints of his front toes, his headdrawn back behind his wing. Often on our walks we would come across an Indian hut,so hidden away in the depths of the dense forest that itsdiscovery was merely a matter of chance. Most of thesehuts consisted simply of four poles covered by the rudests
. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . hthey were full-winged and had the run of the clearing. TheTrumpeter went to roost each night at as punctually asif he had a watch under his wing. He slept standing on oneleg, resting on the first joints of his front toes, his headdrawn back behind his wing. Often on our walks we would come across an Indian hut,so hidden away in the depths of the dense forest that itsdiscovery was merely a matter of chance. Most of thesehuts consisted simply of four poles covered by the rudestsort of a palm-thatched roof. The house furnishing was asprimitive as the house itself — a hammock for each memberof the family; varying in size in proportion to that of theirowners, like the chairs of the historic nursery characters —the Three Hears. One or two calabashes or guords,several hand-woven baskets of cassava bread, some strips ofdried fish and a smoky fire completed the picture. The entire domestic lift of these Indian establishmentswent on perfectly openly and quite unaffected by our curious. A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS. 181 scrutiny. We rarely saw the Indian men at home; theywere off hunting, or fishing, or perhaps employed by themine as woodcutters. The women were always busy, cook-ing, planting cassava, spinning cotton, weaving hammocksand baskets and bead aprons, necklaces and bracelets. Wecould never resist the temptation to stop and make friendswith them. The gift of a cigarette won their hearts and weinvariably found them very gentle and kindly. Their cos-tumes were extraordinary. Those who had been presentedwith the garments of civilization proudly wore them, thoughthey were nothing more than short, loose slips. But themajority wore their native dress — consisting chiefly of beads;certainly far more healthful and suitable for them than theunaccustomed clothing given them by the missionaries. Thechildren were lovable little pieces of bronze, very smoo
Size: 1274px × 1961px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
