A NEW USE FOR OPERA-GLASSES. 131 



whole crimson flower-bed in the tree-tops ; or a Poui, just 

 coming into flower, made a spot of golden yelloAV " a guinea 

 stuck against the mountain-side," as some one said; or the 

 head of a palm broke the monotony of the broad-leaved 

 foliage with its huge star of green. 



Near us we descried several trees covered with pale yellow 

 flowers^ con&picuous enough on the hill-side. No one knew 

 what they vi^ere;, and a couple of Negros (who are admir- 

 able woodmen) were sent off to cut one down and see 

 What mattered a tree or tv/o less amid a world of trees ? 

 It was a quaint sight, the two stalwart black figures 

 struggling down over the fallen logs, and with them an 

 Englishman, who thought he discerned wdiich tree the 

 flowers belonged to; while we at the house guided them 

 by our shouts, and scanned tlie trunks through tlie glasses 

 to make out in our turn which tree should be felled. From 

 the moment that they entered under the green cloud, they 

 of course could see little or nothing over their heads. Ani- 

 mated v/ere the arguments almost the bets as to which 

 tree -top belonged to which tree- trunk. Many were the mis- 

 takes made ; and had it not been for the head af a certain 

 palm, which served as a fixed point which there was no mis- 

 taking, three or four trees would have been cut before the 

 right one was hit upon. At last the right tree came crash- 

 ing down, and a branch of the flowers was brought up, to be 



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