86 JUNGLE PEACE 



hips, the copper-skinned children now and then 

 tumbling into the water in their excitement. 

 The yellows and reds and greens of the coolies 

 added another color-note. Everything seemed a 

 riot of brilliant pigment. Against the blue sky 

 great orange-headed vultures balanced and vol- 

 planed; yellow-gold kiskadees shrieked bla- 

 tantly, and, silhouetted against the green fronds, 

 smote both eye and ear. 



We were among the first to pass the road 

 in an automobile. Awkward, big-wheeled carts, 

 drawn by the tiniest of burros and heaped high 

 with wood, were the only other vehicles. For 

 the rest, the road was a Noah's Ark, studded 

 with all the domestic animals of the world: 

 pigs, calves, horses, burros, sheep, turkeys, 

 chickens, and hordes of gaunt, pariah curs. 

 Drive as carefully as we might, we left behind 

 a succession of defunct dogs and fowls. For the 

 other species, especially those of respectable size, 

 we slowed down, more for our sake than theirs. 

 Calves were the least intelligent, and would 

 run ahead of us, gazing fearfully back, first 

 over one, then the other shoulder, until from 

 fatigue they leaped into the wayside ditch. The 

 natives themselves barely moved aside, and why 



