noon
Now and then a colibri whirred downward toward the water , hummed for a moment around some pendent flower , and then the living gem was lost in the deep blackness of the inner wood , among tree-trunks as huge and dark as the pillars of some Hindoo shrine ; or a parrot swung and screamed at them from an overhanging bough ; or a thirsty monkey slid lazily down a liana to the surface of the stream , dipped up the water in his tiny hand , and started chattering back , as his eyes met those of some foul alligator peering upward through the clear depths below . In shaded nooks beneath the boughs , the capybaras , rabbits as large as sheep , went paddling sleepily round and round , thrusting up their unwieldy heads among the blooms of the blue water-lilies ; while black and purple water-hens ran up and down upon the rafts of floating leaves . The shining snout of a freshwater dolphin rose slowly to the surface ; a jet of spray whirred up ; a rainbow hung upon it for a moment ; and the black snout sank lazily again . Here and there , too , upon some shallow pebbly shore , scarlet flamingoes stood dreaming knee-deep , on one leg ; crested cranes pranced up and down , admiring their own finery ; and ibises and egrets dipped their bills under water in search of prey : but before noon even those had slipped away , and there reigned a stillness which might be heard -- such a stillness -LRB- to compare small things with great -RRB- as broods beneath the rich shadows of Amyas 's own Devon woods , or among the lonely sweeps of Exmoor , when the heather is in flower -- a stillness in which , as Humboldt says , `` If beyond the silence we listen for the faintest undertones , we detect a stifled , continuous hum of insects , which crowd the air close to the earth ; a confused swarming murmur which hangs round every bush , in the cracked bark of trees , in the soil undermined by lizards , millepedes , and bees ; a voice proclaiming to us that all Nature breathes , that under a thousand different forms life swarms in the gaping and dusty earth , as much as in the bosom of the waters , and the air which breathes around . '' At last a soft and distant murmur , increasing gradually to a heavy roar , announced that they were nearing some cataract ; till turning a point , where the deep alluvial soil rose into a low cliff fringed with delicate ferns , they came full in sight of a scene at which all paused : not with astonishment , but with something very like disgust . `` Rapids again ! '' grumbled one .