JUNGLE NIGHT 269 



unreal; and at last I came to know why. In 

 the hght of the full moon it was rejuvenated. 

 The simile of theatrical scenery was always 

 present to the mind, the illusion lying especially 

 in the completeness of transformation from the 

 jungle by daylight. The theatrical effect was 

 heightened by the sense of being in some vast 

 building. This was because of the complete 

 absence of any breath of air. Not a leaf moved ; 

 even the pendulous air-roots reaching down their 

 seventy-foot plummets for the touch of soil did 

 not sway a hair's breadth. The throb of the 

 pulse set the rhythm for one's steps. The silence, 

 for a time, was as perfect as the breathlessness. 

 It was a wonderfully ventilated amphitheater; 

 the air was as free from any feeling of tropical 

 heat, as it lacked all crispness of the north. It 

 was exactly the temperature of one's skin. Heat 

 and cold were for the moment as unthinkable 

 as wind. 



One's body seemed wholly neghgible. In soft 

 padding moccasins and easy swinging gait close 

 behind my naked Indian hunter, and in such 

 khaki browns that my body was almost invisible 

 to my own downward glance, I was conscious 

 only of the play of my senses — of two at first, 



