A PERPETUAL DELIGHT 297 



tiny hairs grew outside a thickish pod or shell, not quite so 

 large as a small banana. These pods were fully ripe (unluckily 

 for me) just at that very time, and the light wind was scattering 

 their covering." 



Mr Baron says that the agy is Mucuna axillaris ; it is not, 

 however, " a tree," but a climbing plant, and had grown over 

 the tree under which Mr Montgomery happened to pass. He 

 had himself a similar experience on his way to Mojanga, and 

 the sensation " reminded him of the sting of a nettle, but was 

 ten times more virulent." 



Our second day's canoe voyage brought us into a part of the 

 river, with many windings among park-like glades of trees. 

 Then the lovely fan-palms became very numerous ; at times 

 we passed closer to the banks, a tangled mass of bdrardta bending 

 down into the river, and the tall grey columns of the palms 

 standing up sometimes from the very edge of the water, with 

 their graceful crown of green fans sharply defined against the 

 blue of the sky. Everything seemed to be steeped in light and 

 heat. Surely of all the millions of beautiful things in this 

 beautiful world, palms are among the most lovely, and the fan- 

 palm not least among this glorious family of trees. It was a 

 perpetual delight to the eye to watch them as we swept rapidly 

 by the banks with the strong current, as one by one they passed 

 by as in a panorama. But for mosquitoes, certainly parts of the 

 tropics are earthly Edens. These palms are called Sdtrandbl, 

 and are much used by the western peoples in building their huts. 

 A smaller species, called Sdtramira, is also employed in manu- 

 facturing mats and baskets. Both are species of Hyphcene. 



But beautiful objects were not the only ones prominent in 

 this journey, and the presence of the scaly reptiles we saw every 

 few minutes was not altogether in harmony with the graceful 

 palms. They seemed, indeed, to be somewhat out of place, 

 " survivals," as indeed they are, of an earlier age of the world 

 when gigantic saurians creeping, walking, swimming and 

 flying were the ruling existences, in a world of slime and mud 

 and ooze, and not in accord with these beautiful trees, which 

 seem as if they should rather be associated with bright-coloured 

 birds and insects than with these crawling saw-backed monsters. 

 Beautiful birds were not wanting, however, in the scene, for 



