56 



OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



For nearly twenty years these little toy engines have bustled 

 and elbowed their way over the snaky rails, until the jungle 

 and its people have come to look upon this narrow winding 

 steel path as part of the general order of things. The under- 

 brush creeps close, and only the constant whipping of the 

 engines and cars beats down the growth between the rails. 



Fig. 27. The Jungle Railro.vd. 



As we start, the last bats of night dash into the dark 

 jungle, and their diurnal prototypes, a flock of graceful Palm 

 Swifts,'' swoop about overhead. To our ears there comes 

 the finale of the morning chorus of distant red howlers and 

 the first deep-toned bellings of the giant Cassiques. 



All along the line, beasts and birds show their lack of fear 

 of the rumbling cars. A party of chattering little monkeys 



