FIELD NOTE — Hutt River, observed from elevation Overcast. Visibility poor. The braided channels do what braided channels do: split at every obstacle, reconverge downstream as if nothing happened. Six hours I watched the delta section. Counted forty-seven reunions of water that had forgotten it was ever one stream. Note: the smooth stones do not resist the current. They merely make it interesting. By 1800 hrs the light performed its usual trick— gold where all day there had been slate. The water didn't change. Only what we called it. Specimen collected: one paper boat, waterlogged, still technically afloat.