268 UDA PRANG 



the only black leopard that I killed— the only one, 

 in fact, that I saw; it was unusual good fortune 

 indeed, for they are somewhat rare— at least to 

 secure. I noticed, after I got its pelt off, that in 

 the sun it had a kind of watered silk appearance as 

 a result of the deeper black of the spots, which, 

 though invisible, were really there just the same. 

 The jungle we now worked into was different 

 from any I had seen. It was very dense, and yet 

 now and again we came to comparatively open 

 places, which in the. centre usually had a kind of 

 mound, from two to three feet in height, sometimes 

 six or eight, and sometimes as much as twenty feet 

 in diameter. These mounds were circular and 

 composed of an interlacing of timber and vines and 

 creepers ; they looked like nothing so much as rub- 

 bish heaps left after the surrounding soil had 

 washed away. Another novel sight was a tree with 

 base standing clear of the soil, and roots spreading 

 hither and thither exposed to view. Sometimes 

 the tree base was a foot and a half above the 

 ground, as though it had been forced up by its 

 roots. I found wild bananas, and the natives found 

 many roots and leaves which they ate with obvious 

 relish. Many of these roots are used for medic- 

 inal purposes, and in every native house is always 

 a stowed away drum filled with roots, leaves and 

 other nature nostrums for use in case of emergency. 



