400 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



the boat, as it was a great preservative against 

 fever. 



At daybreak the sides of the awning were rolled 

 up, the anchor was weighed, and we landed a little 

 farther up the river, near a small natural clearing, 

 where we lighted fires and cooked our breakfast. 

 After the cramped position I had been in for so 

 long I was glad to stretch my legs ashore ; and 

 taking my gun, I strolled along the banks of the 

 river with Tom Dick and the Bekelai, until, at- 

 tracted by a peculiar gabbling noise, which at first 

 I could not account for, I made my way to a clump 

 of high trees at the head of a small lagoon, which 

 turned out to be the abode of hundreds of peli- 

 cans, who were making a great palaver previous to 

 starting for their feeding grounds. As Tom Dick 

 pronounced them to be " fine chop" for Krooboys, I 

 shot four of them, to his intense satisfaction, with my 

 breech-loading rifle, and then returned to the rest 

 of the people. My breakfast consisted of broiled red 

 mullet, of which we caught any amount with a small 

 net, a tin of preserved soup and boiled rice, not at all 

 a bad foundation before commencing a day's work. 



