204 COLLECTOR'S EAMBLES 



or become entangled in a bamboo thicket, where he- 

 may work for an hour to regain the path. There are 

 open, grassy fields within half a mile, and an almost 

 level plain a short distance up the valley. Oh ! such 

 mountains as shut you in on all sides ! They tower 

 one above the other, extending back for miles, until 

 you can scarcely say where the earth leaves off and 

 cloudland begins. The roughest, most disturbed 

 country I have ever seen, covered with tropical vege- 

 tation, and abounding with animals new and strange. 

 The native gardens were in the valley of a tributary of 

 the Lalloki River, and they grew many tropical fruits 

 and vegetables. 



I noticed the tobacco plant growing in the village* 

 and wondered where they obtained the seed, for the 

 plant originally came from America. 



We put all our goods into one end of the large 

 house, and made a bed by stretching cord across 

 a rough wooden frame, and covering it with our 

 blankets. Then we rigged up a table under the 

 house, where we could skin birds. 



The natives brought us bunches of bananas, and 

 plenty of yams and sweet potatoes. We purchased 

 two neta or melon trees, which grew at the back of 

 the house, so that we might enjoy the fruit as it 

 ripened, for the natives always pick the green fruit 

 for cooking. 



Mr. Armit and his party left a few days after we 



