Ａｎ Ａｄｖｅｎｔｕｒｅ ｉｎ Ｗｏｒｌｄ’ｓ Ｂｉｇｇｅｓｔ Ｒａｉｎｆｏｒｅｓｔ

Five friends and I took an adventure trip to the rainforest in Brazil recently. I had long since read of the Amazon valley: primitive tropical jungles luxuriate and spread， and ferocious jaguars and crocodiles lurk， and the Indian tribes live in the rainforest.

The first thing we did after our arrival in Manaus， Brazil was to hire two English-speaking local Indian guides， for we did not wish to make the mistake of running blindly into a totally strange place where horrible accidents can happen to ignorant explorers any time.

Eye-opening Moments

The first impression we got was， everything there was huge. The ample rainfall there has spawned a paradise of huge flora. A glance upwards instantly made us feel dwarfed under the trees towering more than dozens of meters above us. Thick leaves of the trees and vines blocked out the sunshine and the sky. The trail we were trekking vanished under bushes now and then. We had to get out our knives and hack a way forward. We waded barefooted across numerous narrow streams where we saw the pebbles under limped waters. The water was chill， probably because the sunshine was unable to penetrate the dense foliage all the year round. At one place， we ran into the king-sized lotus (Victoria amazonica) floating on a pond. A single lotus leaf measured 3-4 meters in diameter. The guides told us that a single lotus leaf could carry a 20 kg child. In China， mimosa is usually a potted plant that folds its tiny leaves hastily at the slightest touch of a finger. In the Amazon rainforest， however， mimosa is a huge tree that can thrust 36 meters upward. The mimosa beans have large pods and sweet whitish juice. Indians use mimosa beans to treat diarrhea and brush teeth!

Insects in Amazon also appear huge. At one spot， our guides pointed to a hole on the ground， saying it was home to a tarantula， the biggest spider in the world. One of the guides picked a stalk of grass， wetted it with his sweat， and poked the stalk slowly into the hole. Tricked by the moving stalk， a tarantula， as huge as a crab， scrawled menacingly out of the hole. Frightened， we stepped back immediately. We were told that the hairy monster spider had lethal venom and that a tarantula bite could kill a person within 30 minutes. The guide， however， did not seem to be impressed by the tarantula. He picked up the spider and displayed its back to us. I boldly went up and touched its hairy legs. Fear and thrill gushed through my body.

As the sun began to sink， we set up our tents in a clearing in the jungle. After taking off the thick armor-like coats and building a fire， we sat down and felt relieved for the first time.

The night in the jungle was beautiful and spine-tingling. We heard the mysterious noises of the animals lurking in the dark; stars twinkled; the aromas of the land wafted in the breeze. We kept watch in turn at night， keeping the fire burning through the night to scare away animals.

Catching Carnivorous Fish

In the morning， we continued our trip by boat. The river where we started the boat journey was broad and then it narrowed gradually. The jungle of weeds and trees extended on and on. In some sections we saw nobody on the banks for half an hour. Finally we reached the Devil Lake. We were told that the lake abounded with piranhas and crocodiles. Piranhas hunt in packs. The carnivorous creatures， which usually measure about 20 centimeters long， look deceptively harmless. But their sharp teeth could strip a horse clean of its flesh in fifteen minutes. If you don’t have a wound， you could swim in the lake safely. But if you bleed， hundreds piranhas will zero in immediately.

We docked beside a few thatched houses in the wilderness in the afternoon. We thought the houses belonged to some Indian families. Women and children rushed out to see us. They eyed us curiously. Then suddenly a girl among the children asked if we were Chinese. We were startled. She was speaking Chinese， though the pronunciation sounded a little bit stiff! It turned out that Lu Weiguang， a businessman from Shanghai， China， had purchased a large chunk of rainforest in Brazil and set up a timber processing factory there. The girl was his daughter. The Chinese businessman， well known in Brazil， had met with the Brazilian president several times. Mr. Lu entertained us with a banquet and taught us how to fish piranha. We were eager to try his novel trick. It was exciting to watch how piranhas vied each other to bite the fresh raw meat on the fishhooks. We caught a basinful of piranhas in two hours.

Ferocious Animals

We entered the jungle again after leaving the lake behind. The forest was dripping due to the rain in the previous night. Suddenly one of us stopped and whispered: “Jaguar!” We looked in the direction he pointed. A jaguar was squatting beside a tree， watching us alertly. The animal arched its body， ready to move. Probably the unexpected encounter made the jaguar nervous and it turned around and vanished into the jungle. We learned that jaguars were the largest feline animals in the west hemisphere. A jaguar is a loner; it usually sleeps during daytime and hunts at night. We were told a story about a jaguar trying to take a boa as a meal and winning the battle after a 10-minute fierce wrestle and several wounds. In another story， a jaguar attacked a crocodile by a riverside. The crocodile fled after a fierce confrontation.

We felt sorry that we could only enjoy such tales from the guides. Fortunately， however， on the seventh day in the jungle， we were able to witness a brief scuffle between an anteater and a jaguar. The anteater， as big as a bear， was taking a nap by a pine tree with its huge tail covered the head and body. A jaguar spotted the sleeping animal and approached rapidly. The jaguar whacked the anteater with its right paw. The thick-skinned anteater jumped up. It charged at the jaguar， hurtling itself against the belly of the jaguar. The jaguar was thrown back several steps and looked pained. The anteater brandished its dagger-like sharp front paws. The anteater and the jaguar faced each other for a while before the jaguar retreated sullenly.