CHAPTER VI. 

 A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS. 



WE loaded our tin canisters, clothing bags, guns and 

 cameras on a cart which was waiting and set out along 

 the bush trail, three and a half miles to the gold mine. The 

 trail led through a great swampy forest with a clear brook 

 occasionally crossing it, and for the sake of the wagon which 

 had to transport all supplies, it was corduroyed in the worst 

 places with small saplings or quartered trunks. We had all 

 donned cheap tennis shoes which proved on this and all later 

 occasions to be perfect footwear for the tropic's. The rubber 

 soles allow one to obtain sure footing in slippery places and a 

 wetting matters nothing. If one walks far enough the shoes 

 dry on one's feet, or at camp a ne\v pair may be slipped on in 

 a moment and next day the old ones are none- the worse for 

 the soaking. Here snake-proof and water-proof shoes are as 

 useless as they are uncomfortable. 



It was amusing to see ho\v quickly the regard for mud and 

 water left even those of our party who were taking their first 

 dip into the real " bush." For the first few yards all picked 

 their way carefully. There was even a pair of storm rubbers 

 leaving its checkered print on the forest mould! Then some* 

 one stepped on the loose end of a corduroy sapling which 

 rose in air and fell with a sharp spat. Everyone dodged the 

 shower of mud and straightway went over ankles in water. 

 The cool fluid trickled between our toes and we all laughed 

 with relief. The rubbers found an early grave in the mud- 

 hole and we all strode happily along, wishing we had a hun- 

 dred eyes, to see all that was going on around and above us. 



165 



