24 . Voyage of the Novara. 



the glassy bosom of tlie water ; clumps of bamboo, absolutely 

 alive with butterflies ; nymph-like aquatic plants, mossy 

 green banks, and tree-ferns with indescribably grace- 

 ful corollae, all combined here to form a landscape of the 

 most enchanting richness, in the water, on the shore, and in 

 the air. Suspended over the whole scene, partly in leaf, 

 partly in bloom, a gigantic garland of climbing and creep- 

 ing plants, in living cords of every variety of thickness, rose 

 in a lofty arch above the limpid element, interlaced and 

 girt round with thousands of blooming and flourishing pa- 

 rasites I Then, too, from amid the mysterious gloom started 

 forth the strangest voices and cries, without our being able to 

 descry the animals themselves. In the water^ which was 

 perfectly sweet to the taste, swarmed multitudes of fish of 

 from one to four inches in length. After rowing about one 

 nautical mile and a half up the stream, some rapids and rocks 

 prevented our further progress, the stream itself being but 

 twelve feet wide. A little further to the east occurs a similar 

 small river, which however had even less water, and at its 

 mouth is yet more sanded up and inaccessible than that 

 above described. 



After we had lain for six days at anchor on the N.W. 

 coast of Kar-Nicobar, and were once more casting about how 

 to make out oiu^ long-deshed excursion through its almost 

 impermeable forests, we suddenly perceived in the distance 

 upon the beach two men in European dress, with muskets 



