92 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



had followed me up the ladder, and now sat down 

 beside me. 



"When will you ring up the curtain?" laughed I. 



" In a few minutes. Is every one in position ? " 



" Yes, massa ; yes, massa," came from a dozen differ- 

 ent branches higher up in the tree. 



" All right. Now silence all ! " 



Day ends and begins in the tropics almost without any 

 twilight, and with the rapidity of a change of scenery at 

 the theatre. Hardly five minutes had elapsed before a 

 pale light struggled through the forest, and in an instant 

 the sun filled the trees with its golden rays, and the day 

 had come. 



At a glance I took in the whole remarkable scene. We 

 were perched in the heart of a banyan, sheltered from 

 observation by a screen of palm-leaves, woven together 

 with tough vines and tendrils, yet w^ith an unobstructed 

 view of what was going on around us. At the first light 

 of day, a cry of joy, in a hundred different keys and notes, 

 went up from the innumerable little huts hanging, like 

 grapes in cluster, from every tree in the forest. Each of 

 these huts sheltered its family of chimpanzees, and old 

 and young came bounding out, uttering piercing cries, to 

 join in a grand romp. Thousands of the agile animals 

 sprang from branch to branch of the highest trees, bal- 

 ancing, swinging, leaping, sliding, and making a w^eird 

 scene to my eyes, unaccustomed to see so large a number 

 of monkeys at once. We stayed nearly two hours, 



