g the excessive heat of the day, we landed to allow the crew to
take some rest. The doctor on these occasions bade me remark the
silence which reigned over nature. The beasts of the forest had retired
to the thickets; the birds had hidden themselves beneath the foliage of
the trees. Yet when we ceased speaking our ears caught a dull
vibration, a continual murmur,--the hum of insects filling all the lower
strata of the air, while a confused noise issued from every bush, from
the decayed trunks of the trees, from the clefts of the rocks, and from
the ground undermined by lizards, crickets, millipedes, and other
creatures. Myriads of insects were creeping upon the soil and
fluttering round the plants parched by the heat of the sun,--showing us
by their countless voices that all nature was breathing, and that under
a thousand different forms life was diffused throughout the cracked and
dusty soil, as well as in the bosom of the waters and in the air
circulating round us.

We landed one night on a sand-bank, when, finding no tree, we stuck some
long poles in the ground, to which we fastened our hammocks, with
blazing fires around. It was a beautiful moonlight night, calm and
serene. We observed numerous alligators with their heads above the
surface; others were stretched along the opposite shore, with their eyes
turned towards the fire, which seemed to attract them as it does fish
and other inhabitants of the water.

The first part of the evening passed away quietly enough, but an hour
before midnight so terrific a noise arose in the neighbouring forest
that we in vain tried to sleep. It appeared as if all the wild beasts
of the continent had collected together in an endeavour to out-howl each
other. We could not distinguish one from the other; but the Indians, by
listening attentively, caught the voices of those which sounded for an
instant at intervals while the rest ceased. Among the strange cries
were those of the sapajous, the moans of the alouati monkeys, the
howlings of jaguars and pumas, the shrieks and grunts of peccaries, the
calls of the curassow, the paraka, and other fowls. Jumbo added his
voice to the turmoil, barking furiously; but suddenly he ceased; then
again began to howl, and tried to jump into his master's hammock.

"He knows that a jaguar is approaching," observed the doctor. "I only
hope that the brute will show his ugly nose here."

"Take care that he does not leap into your hammock," I