EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER. 213 



swiftly trails its length to the bush, and disappears from sight. Onward 

 we go. A peculiar humming noise next attracts my attention, and lo! the 

 least wee bird imaginable, with beautiful plumage, is seen with its long bill 

 extracting honey from the flowers, upon which it does not even rest, support- 

 ing itself in the air, its wings vibrating, and producing the peculiar sound 

 from which it derives its name. My butterfly-net is in instant requisition, 

 but I miss my aim, and the little creature wings its flight to sip nectar on 

 other flowers, and wanton in its enjoyment. Pondering upon my disappoint- 

 ment, my reverie is disturbed just in time to secure some gorgeous butterflies, 

 which almost fly into my face. 



I continue to proceed for some miles further on, tempted every moment 

 by a plunge into the water of some animal, or the louder call of some 

 magnificent bird winging its course into the unknown interior. Then, again, 

 my powers are quite inadequate to give you any just idea of the extraordinary 

 beauty of the foliage; the freshness and the brightness of the green of 

 innumerable shades; the leaves themselves of various shapes, exquisitely 

 ribbed, and so varied that one is never tired of examining, and of a size 

 perfectly to astound our liliputian notions of vegetation. The seed-vessels are 

 so remarkably and curiously formed that admiration is never weary. This 

 beauty of the leaves and seed-vessels, and their infinite variety, is a subject 

 which has excited my astonishment as much as anything I have seen in 

 this laud of vegetable wonders, and yet, strange as it may appear, I have 

 never seen it noticed by travellers, who, upon these subjects, usually speak in 

 very vague and general language. I have tried repeatedly to preserve some 

 of the leaves in all their perfection, but hitherto, from the exceeding moisture 

 of the atmosphere, without success. The singular and finished manner in 

 which the birds build their nests, also furnishes occasion for remark and 

 wonder; they are generally pendant from the extremest branches, and this 

 to prevent snakes and other animals from molesting their young. They wave 

 to and fro with every breath of wind, and injured by none, not even the 

 strongest, so admirably are they constructed, and really have a most graceful 

 appearance. 



A few minutes more riding brings me to one of my schools; and here 

 there i3 interest of another kind to the thinking and philosophic mind. It 

 is almost impossible to avoid being amazed at the appearance of the little 

 blacks, and their manner of pronouncing some of our words is diverting 



enough Having spent my time here I again take horse and 



cross the island, through woods rich in beauty, to inspect the progress of 

 my church. Just as I enter a cool glade, with senses keenly alive to the 

 beauties around me, Carlo begins to snuff the air and shake his ears, as if 

 stung by some small insect; on the ground I perceive a well-worn path to 

 an ant's nest, and millions busily at work. I trace them to a lofty tree 

 hard by, and some forty or fifty feet from the ground I observe an extra- 

 ordinary excrescence, four or five feet or more in circumference, which, after 

 examination, I found to be their nest, in shape and appearance the exact 

 counterfeit of a bee-hive. On other trees I discovered several of these nests 

 differently constructed, but all highly finished; some large, and others smaller. 

 VOL. VIII. 2 F 



