8 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



hibit. I, and all the law-breakers who followed, 

 recognized the nine tenths involved in this in- 

 stance and carefully stepped around. When the 

 heavy things began to arrive, I approached dif- 

 fidently, and half suggested, half directed her 

 deliberate hops toward a safer corner. My feel- 

 ings toward her were mingled, but altogether 

 kindly, — as guest in her home, I could not but 

 treat her with respect, — while my scientific soul 

 revelled in the addition of Bufo guttatus to the 

 fauna of this part of British Guiana. Whether 

 flashing gold of oriole, or the blinking solemnity 

 of a great toad, it mattered little — Kartabo had 

 welcomed me with as propitious an omen as had 

 Kalacoon. 



Houses have distinct personalities, either be- 

 queathed to them by their builders or tenants, 

 absorbed from their materials, or emanating from 

 the general environment. Xeither the mind 

 which had planned our Kartabo bungalow, nor 

 the hands which fashioned it ; neither the mahog- 

 any walls hewn from the adjoining jungle, nor 

 the white-pine beams which had known many 

 decades of snowy winters — none of these were 

 obtrusive. The first had passed into oblivion. 



