42 EAMBLE8 OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. III. 



direction, that is, to right and left alternately. Their leaps 

 are effected by means of their curiously-bent ventral fins, 

 which look something like a pair of hands placed imme- 

 diately behiud the head, and as they always make straight 

 for the water and double with great agility, it is scarcely 

 possible to capture them excepting with a net. 



The vicinity of Ta-kau is fertile and highly cultivated, and 

 the country populous and interesting. The lagoon has the 

 appearance of a broad river, with mangrove-bordered creeks 

 and numerous large arms, and at its head is a muddy ex- 

 panse, given up to hosts of land crabs (Gelasimi), whose 

 myriad holes give forth a crackling sound as their tenants 

 withdraw themselves on the approach of footsteps. Beyond 

 this, padi fields cover the greater part of the country, among 

 which numerous villages stand like habitable spots of terra 

 firma amidst a marsh. The padi fields are for the most part 

 rectangular, with narrow ridges between them, which afford 

 a precarious footing, and render it necessary to keep a care- 

 ful eye upon one's footsteps ; for the rice grows up from 

 pools of muddy water, into which an indiscreet step woiild 

 at once plunge the incautious pedestrian. Upon these 

 waters, numerous aquatic insects (Hydrometrae and Gyrini), 

 of species indistinguishable at first sight from those in 

 English ponds, were sporting ; and many large shells, chiefly 

 Paludinse (P. sethiops and P. chinensis), were floating among 

 the stalks of the rice. Strange as it may appear, the aspect 

 of the scene forcibly reminded one of English cornfields in 

 spring — the green rice hiding the unsightly marshy aspect 

 of the country. 



Nestling amid the trees, among which bananas and bam- 

 boos held a conspicuous place, were numerous villages, the 

 houses of which were usually plastered over with mud. Be- 



