protest against intrusion ; in the tops of the wild fig- 

 trees bright green pigeons watched us shyly great big 

 birds of a wonderful green ; gorgeous louries too 

 flashed their colours and raised their crests pictures 

 of extreme and comical surprise ; golden cuckoos 

 there were also and beautiful little green-backed ruby- 

 throated honey-suckers, flitted like butterflies among 

 the flowers on the sunlit fringe of the woods. 



Now and again guinea-fowl and bush-pheasant 

 craned their necks over some fallen log or stone to 

 peer curiously at us, then stooping low again darted 

 along their well-worn runs into the thick bush. The 

 place was in fact a natural preserve ; a * bay ' let into 

 the wall of the Berg, half-encircled by cliffs which 

 nothing could climb, a little world where the common 

 enemy man seldom indeed intruded. 



We stayed there until the afternoon sun had passed 

 behind the crest of the Berg above us ; and, instead 

 of going back the way we came, skirted along the other 

 arm enclosing the bay to have the cool shade of the 

 mountain with us on our return journey. But the 

 way was rough ; the jungle was den^e ; we were hot 

 and torn and tired ; and the shadow of the mountain 

 stretched far out across the foothills by the time the 

 corner was reached. We sat down to rest at last in 

 the open on the long spur on which, a couple of miles 

 away, the slanting sun picked out the red and black 

 cattle, the white goats, and the brown huts of the 

 kaffir kraal. 



Our route lay along the side of the spur, skirting 

 the rocky backbone and winding between occasional 

 269 



