hours heard. We left our boat in the
lagoon, and walked a short distance over sand dunes, thickly grown with
trees, to the beach, which only appeared in sight when we reached the
top of the last dune. It was a gently sloping sandy stretch, upon which
a fine surf was beating. There were no pebbles save bits of water-worn
coral and shell. Quantities of sea-gulls were flying about and flocks of
little snipe ran down over the retreating surf, catching food, turning
and running rapidly in before the coming wave. A single shot into the
flock killed thirty-one of the little creatures, which later in the day
supplied us an excellent meal. From this lagoon of mangroves, we finally
entered the great lagoon of La Riviera, which pretty town we passed a
little before three o'clock. From here we knew that, by hiring horses,
we could reach Tampico in two hours; had we really known what lay before
us, we would have done so. Having passed La Riviera, we entered a narrow
canal, bordered for the most part with tall, flat rushes and a great
grass much like our wild rice. Here again we saw large herons and great
kingfishers; the boys had repeatedly tried to shoot one of the latter
birds, but with no success; finally, one was seen standing on the branch
of a tree hanging over the stream; this one was shot, and when we picked
it up, we found it to be curiously distorted, the breast being strangely
swollen. When skinned, this swelling proved to be due to a fish which
the bird had eaten, and which was almost as large as itself. Weighted
with this heavy burden, it is no wonder that the bird had been shot so
easily. At dusk we found ourselves at a landing-place, where we left the
boxes, which turned out to be eight in number, each of which weighed one
hundred and twenty-five pounds. They contained _chapapote_. Our men had
talked much of _the_ canal, to which, for some time, we had been looking
forward. At this landing, arrangements were made for helping us through
the canal, a little canoe being despatched after us, to help unload us.
When we reached the canal, narrow, shallow and straight, cut for the
most part through the solid rock, the moon was shining brightly. Our
great canoe was soon aground, and whole party, seven in number, climbed
out into the water to push and pull. We dislodged it soon, but shortly
came to a complete standstill. Here for the first time, we realized the
cargo which we carried, which before had been carefully covered so t