A'otcs on Jungle and Other Wild Life. 85 



to several informal functions, and had a chance of becominL;' 

 acquainted with a number of de'i.L^htful people. The (Governor 

 and his very popular wife long" ago adopted the thoughtful 

 custom of inviting" to their family Christmas dinner all those 

 homeless unfortunates who. like ouselves, " had nowhere to 

 go." Our host very appropriately called us his " Waifs and 

 Strays." And we had a mighty good time — we castaways. 

 After dinner we joined in the children's games, danced the 

 Lancers, had a final round of blind-man's-buff, and topped off 

 with something E. and I had not taken part in for years — Sir 

 Koger de Coverley ! It would have made you feel young again 

 if you could have watched the dignitaries of Church and State 

 ])laying" " hunt the slipper." 



I am well aware that for these privileges I was indebted 

 to no merit of mine, but only to the innate kindliness of Sir 

 Charles and Lady O'Brien. Possibly, also, an old-time friend 

 between Lady O'Brien's sister and my w'ife had something to 

 do with it. At any rate. Sir Charles O'Brien, who is one of a 

 long line of Colonial Governors and Empire builders, not only 

 makes, so every Barbadian tells me, an ideal administrator, but 

 is in all other respects very much of a gentleman — and what 

 more remains to be said ? E. and I will not soon forget 

 Barbados and her hospitable people. 



Moreover, we do not seem apprehensive of those more 

 or less mythical dangers popularly attributed to tropical jungle 

 life. In virtue of that state of mind we intend to brave (?) 

 these dangers and discomforts. First of all. we expect to make 

 an excursion fifty miles up the Essequibo River to a place 

 surrounded by the illimitable Guiana forest, where we shall be 

 exposed to about the same troubles and accidents that accom- 

 pany a foray into the wilds of Maine or Michigan, and that ends 

 in a stay in some summer hotel on the shores of an inland lake. 

 Certainly, there are more sand-flies and mosquitos in the 

 last-named locality than on the banks of the Mazuruni ; and more 

 snakes; and fewer birds and just as many flowers. Then there 

 is Kaietur Falls, but as these are accessible only to such women 

 as Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. Mrs. Lestrade and Mrs. Clementi. 

 but that's anticipating a part of this narrative ! 



The visit of a feathered straggler to a ship at sea is such a 



