MEN OF THE TREES 



burning wood and when next we encountered an old 

 fallen tree that had rotted he collected several pieces of 

 touch-wood and tied them round the smouldering stick 

 with a small creeper cut from the forest. This delay 

 seemed at first to agitate the little bird who made more 

 fuss than ever. But once the hunter was ready again for 

 the trail the honey bird flew on ahead. We did not have 

 to go very far along the game track that we were fol- 

 lowing, for soon the little bird stopped and then flew 

 into the denser part of the forest. About two hundred 

 yards from the trail there was a clearing where a giant 

 tree had fallen, thus letting in the sunlight through the 

 canopy of the forest. To the north side of the clearing 

 was a tall tree and looking upwards Katootero's sharp 

 eyes immediately spotted a small hole from which bees 

 were flying. They must have been from ninety to a hun- 

 dred feet up, and to this height the boll of the tree went 

 up clean, without a branch. For my part, I could only 

 just see the position of the hole and it was only when the 

 light caught the wings of the bees, as they flashed in and 

 out of the hollow, that they were obvious to me. 



It looked as though it was impossible to climb this tall 

 tree and I waited to see what Katootero would do. He 

 was looking around, and at the same time, every now and 

 again, blowing on the touch-wood to get it well ahght. 

 Another way he had of getting a good smoke going was 

 to swing it backwards and forwards. Suddenly it seemed 

 as though he had an inspiration. About twenty-five feet 

 away from the big tree was a tall thin one which could 



70 



