at
clusters of the fruits of the catinga and patawa, were laid upon the
raft; and then, Guapo, mounting himself on top of all, pushed out with
his long pole, and ferried the whole across. The others walked round by
the bridge, and were just in time to assist Guapo in mooring his
somewhat unwieldy craft.

Next day the framework of the house was put up, and on the day after the
walls. These were made of bamboo-canes (_Bambusa guadua_), plenty of
which grew near the bottom of the valley. They grew wild, for the
slopes of the Andes are the favourite soil of these gigantic grasses.
They were set on end, side by side, and then tied to each other and to
the beams of palm-trees. On the third day the "bussu" leaves were laid
on, and the house was finished.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

TRACKING THE TAPIR.

It has been already mentioned that the stream in front of the house was
wider than at other parts, forming a sort of lake. There was a slow
current down the middle, but at the sides the water was nearly stagnant,
and there grew in some places bunches of flags interspersed with
beautiful white lilies. Among these could be distinguished that
gigantic _nympha_ so celebrated under the name of _Victoria regia_--for
South America is the native country of this rare plant.

Every night, as our party were resting from their labours, they heard
strange noises proceeding from the water. There was plunging and
plashing, and now and then a snorting sound like that sometimes uttered
by frightened swine. Perhaps it would have puzzled any of them to tell
whence these sounds proceeded, or what animal gave utterance to them,
for there could be no doubt they were caused by an animal. Some of them
guessed "alligators;" but that was not a correct guess, for although
there are plenty of alligators in all the rivers of tropical America,
there seemed to be none in that particular place. In truth, they might
have remained long in the dark about what creature they thus heard
sweltering about nightly, for they could neither see nor hear anything
of it in the day; but Guapo, who knew every sound of the Montana,
enlightened them at once. Guapo had been a keen _tapir-hunter_ in his
time, and understood all the habits of that strange animal. It was a
tapir, then, which they had heard taking his regular nightly bath, and
regaling himself on the roots of the flags and _nymphae_.

Have you ever seen a tapir? Not a living one, I fancy; perhaps the