DUSKY ILVVINES. 3 



tedious nature of bush walkino- in these leinons, I mav state that 

 crossing the small island of Santa Anna fVuni south to north — a 

 distance of 2^ miles — occupied on one occasion five hours. For 

 nearly the whole distance my path lay either through a dense 

 forest-growth which had never been cleared since this little island 

 first rose as a eoral-atoU above the waves, or amono;st tangled 

 undergrowth which often succeeded effectually in baning the way. 

 Rarely could I obtain a glimpse of my surroundings, and in con- 

 sequence it was on my pocket-compass that I entiiely depended. 

 Coral-rock honeycombed into sharp tearing edges covered the 

 slopes, my way lying between the large masses of this rock that lay 

 about in sti-ancje confusion, the smaller blocks swaving about under 

 mv weio-ht as if eao-er to lid themselves of their unusual burden. 

 At one place tlie coral-limestone over a space of about a hundred 

 yards was perforated like a sieve by numerous holes two to three 

 feet across and five to ten feet deep : but now and then a deep 

 fissure appeared at the bottom of one of these cavities — leading 

 Heaven knows where — in all probability the swallow-hole of >ome 

 stream that once became engulphed in the solid rock. The spreading 

 roots of trees, together with ferns and shrubs, often nearly con- 

 cealed these man-traps from my view ; and I found it necessary to 

 clear the way for every step, a very tedious process at the close of a 

 tiresome day's excursioii. 



In many places that I visited, the ascent of the stream-courses 

 afibrded the only opportunity of learning anything of the geological 

 structure on account of the thick f(.)rest and the depth of the soil on 

 the hill-slopes. Only at times are the sun's rays able to penetrate 

 the dusky ravines through which the streams flow, being usually in- 

 terceptsd by the matted foliage overhead. Even in the hottest day, 

 such a walk is pleasantly cool, since the necessit}'' of wading waist- 

 deej) and sometimes of swimming is not unfrequent in the deeper 

 parts of the stream. However, I found on moie than one occasion, 

 after havins: been wadino- for several hours along one of the streams 

 in the cool damp air of the ravine, that T ex[)erienced a sudden sensa- 

 tion of chilliness accompanied by lassitude and nausea, the thermo- 

 meter at the time registering 80° in the shade. Probably the de- 

 pressing effects of the gloom and damp air of the ravine, and the 

 wadino- for several hours under these conditions, may explain these 



symptoms. 



I shouldhave before referred to anothervery frequentinconvenience 



