A WALK IN KlUSIU. 115 



rocky bottom. As I stood watching them, a little green 

 kingfisher dashed suddenly into the water ten yards up 

 the stream, and immediately appeared with a trout 

 about two inches in length. The bird was not the least 

 put out by my presence, but returned to the dead branch 

 overhanging the water, on which he had been watching 

 for his prey. Numbers of the painted-lady butterfly 

 appeared about the banks of the stream, attracted, I 

 suppose, by the warm surface of the great rocks. 



The path in a short time again entered the wood, 

 which was more open underneath, and the lovely 

 ferns which grew in profusion were more easily seen. 

 Here I came upon a gigantic camphor-tree. It must 

 have been of great age, for the two or three branches 

 that were left appeared the size of large trees. The 

 stem of this patriarch I carefully measured, and found 

 it to be fifty-three feet in circumference at four feet 

 from the ground ; it was long past its prime, and very 

 decayed and hollow. Thirty feet round is not a very 

 unusual size for this tree when still in the prime of life. 



I soon entered another valley, and passed through 

 small groves of mulberry shrubs, and the wax tree, 

 which is also a species of mulberry. In the autumn 

 this tree turns a bright red; the berries then are 

 picked and ground, and run into wax by the assistance 



