. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . gaining newterritory. Aerial roots are thrown out from branches highin air, swinging downward and outward with a curve whichsometimes wins three or four yards ahead. Like hawsersthrown from a vessel to a wharf these roots clutch at the mudbeneath, but where the current runs swiftly they swing anddangle in vain, until they have grown so heavy that theytouch bottom some distance downstream. We made use ofthese dangling roots as anchors for our canoe, bending theelastic unattached end
. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . gaining newterritory. Aerial roots are thrown out from branches highin air, swinging downward and outward with a curve whichsometimes wins three or four yards ahead. Like hawsersthrown from a vessel to a wharf these roots clutch at the mudbeneath, but where the current runs swiftly they swing anddangle in vain, until they have grown so heavy that theytouch bottom some distance downstream. We made use ofthese dangling roots as anchors for our canoe, bending theelastic unattached end upward and springing it over thegunwale. Throughout all this great region there is not a foot of solidground. In one place we pushed a tall shoot some eight feetin height straight down through the mud, and it went out ofsight. A man falling on tins mud, out of reach of aid, wouldvanish as in a quick-sand. So the wild creatures of themangroves must either swim, fly, or climb. No terrestrialbeings can exist there. We once selected a favorable place,and for fifty yards made our way over the roots and branches. 12 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. before exhaustion and an impassable gap of mud and waterstopped all progress. As never before we realized how safefrom man are the denizens of these strange swamps. Mon-keys fled swiftly before us, birds rose and flew overhead,while we painfully crept and pulled ourselves along over theslippery stems. More wonderful even than the coral polyps are these man-groves, for by this plant alone all this region has been rescuedfrom the sea and built up into land. In future years, as themud banks become higher and are fertilized by the ever-falling leaves, other growths will appear, and finally the coastof the continent will be thus extended by many scores ofmiles of fertile soil. A network of narrow channels stretches through thiswilderness and allowed us to explore the far interior in ourshallow curiara or dug-out. Thus we spent days and weeksin sear
Size: 1266px × 1974px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
