254. JUNGLE PEACE 



or a person are not easily broken. And, as 

 usual when the trail passed from view, the 

 ideal alone remained. The thoughts of mos- 

 quitoes, of drenchings, of hours of breathless 

 disappointed waiting, all sank in the memory of 

 the daily discoveries, the mental delights of new 

 research. 



A week later, when the sky-line was unbroken 

 by land, when a long ground-swell waved but 

 did not disturb the deep blue of the open sea, 

 I unlaced my bag of jungle mold. Armed with 

 forceps, lens, and vials I began my search. For 

 days I had gazed upward; now my scrutiny 

 was directed downward. With binoculars I had 

 scanned without ceasing the myriad leaves of a 

 great tree; now with lens or naked eye I sought 

 for hfe or motion on single fallen leaves and 

 dead twigs. When I studied the life of the 

 great tree I was in the land of Brobdingnag; 

 now I was verily a Gulliver in Lilliput. The 

 cosmos in my war-bag teemed with mystery as 

 deep and as inviting as any in the jungle itself. 



When I began work I knew little of what I 

 should find. My vague thoughts visualized ants 

 and worms, and especially I anticipated un- 

 earthing myriads of the unpleasant " mucuims " 



