222 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



for active work in the afternoon, but the eye and 

 the brain can combine relaxation with keenest at- 

 tention. 



In the northlands the difference in the tem- 

 perature of the early dawn and high noon is so 

 slight that the effect on birds and other crea- 

 tures, as well as plants of all kinds, is not pro- 

 found. But in the tropics a change takes place 

 which is as pronounced as that brought about by 

 day and night. Above all, the volume of sound 

 becomes no more than a pianissimo melody; for 

 the chorus of birds and insects dies away little 

 by little with the increase of heat. There is 

 something geometrical about this, something 

 precise and fine in this working of a natural law 

 a law from which no living being is immune, 

 for at length one unconsciously lies motionless, 

 overcome by the warmth and this illusion of si- 

 lence. 



The swaying of the hammock sets in motion 

 a cool breeze, and lying at full length, one is ad- 

 mitted at high noon to a new domain which has 

 no other portal but this. At this hour, the 

 jungle shows few evidences of life, not a chirp 

 of bird or song of insect, and no rustling of 

 leaves in the heat which has descended so surely 



