88 JUNGLE PEACE 



out here and there by intensely white and in- 

 tensely Japanesque egrets. Great black mus- 

 covy ducks spattered up from amber pools, and 

 tri-colored herons stood like detached shadows 

 of birds, mere cardboard figures, so attenuated 

 that they appeared to exist in only two planes 

 of space. 



The rice-fields gave place to pastures and 

 these to marshes; thin lines of grass trisected 

 the red road — the first hint of the passing of 

 the road and the coming of the trail. Rough 

 places became more frequent. Then came shrub, 

 and an occasional branch whipped our faces. 

 Black cuckoos or old witch-birds flew up like 

 disheveled grackles; cotton-birds flashed by, 

 and black-throated orioles glowed among the 

 foliage. Carrion crows and laughing falcons 

 watched us from nearby perches, and our chauf- 

 feur went into second gear. 



Now and then some strange human being 

 passed, — man or woman, we could hardly tell 

 which, — clad in rags which flapped in the breeze, 

 long hair waving, leaning unsteadily on a staff, 

 like a perambulating scarecrow. The eyes, fixed 

 ahead, were fastened on things other than those 

 of this world, so detached that their first sight 



