TRAVELLING EXPERIENCES. 63 



Even twenty minutes of this sort of thing is 

 exciting, but after half an hour one begins to 

 look anxiously forward through the papyrus stems, 

 which rise on either side to a height of 10 to 15 

 feet, for some sign of solid ground. Eventually, 

 utterly tired out, wet and hot, and indescribably 

 dirty, one reaches the bank, and perhaps im- 

 mediately enters a dark, cool forest. The long 

 tapering trunks seem to rise to an indefinite 

 height, where, far overhead, the leaves, and per- 

 haps a mass of blossom, can barely be dis- 

 tinguished. Sometimes a tangled mass of creepers 

 hangs downwards, with gorgeous flowers scattered 

 over it. Usually, the trunks are clothed with the 

 broad, dark green leaves of climbing Aroids, and 

 delicate feathery mosses cover every branch and 

 twig. Over the muddy path, broken by gnarled, 

 knotty tree roots, there are hundreds of little 

 blue butterflies perpetually flitting to and fro, or 

 sometimes stopping to suck, with apparently 

 great enjoyment, the black and slimy soil. Oc- 

 casionally a ghostly, pure white Papilio will 

 swoop across the path, inviting wild plunges with 

 the net. Often there are quantities of Aeneas, 

 with transparent wings, dotted with bright crim- 

 son spots. These flap leisurely by, knowing that 

 they are safe and inedible. Sometimes one comes 

 across a flock of a large bright blue kind, which 

 seems to be of a very sociable disposition. 



After perhaps twenty minutes of this, the leader 



