About noon
Even the troublesome mosquitoes , so active at all other times , day and night , were silent now . The change was very great and striking , and difficult for those who have not observed it to comprehend . All the forenoon , screams , and cries , and croaks , and grunts , and whistles , ring out through the woods incessantly ; while , if you listen attentively , you hear the low , deep , and never-ending buzz and hum of millions upon millions of insects , that dance in the air and creep on every leaf and blade upon the ground . About noon all this is hushed . The hot rays of the sun beat perpendicularly down upon what seems a vast untenanted solitude , and not a single chirp breaks the death-like stillness of the great forest , with the solitary exception of the metallic note of the uruponga , or bell-bird , which seems to mount guard when all the rest of the world has gone to sleep . As the afternoon approaches they all wake up , refreshed by their siesta , active and lively as fairies , and ready for another spell of work and another deep-toned noisy chorus . The country through which our adventurers travelled , as evening approached , became gradually more hilly , and their march consequently more toilsome .