THE LOWER CONGO—-BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 27 
poised on their many feet, and telling out against the 
shining sky with their lace-like tracery of leaves—in these 
quiet stretches of still water are the homes and feeding- 
grounds of myriad forms of life: of blue land-crabs, whose 
burrows riddle the black soil; of always alert and agitated 
“mud-fish,” * flapping and flopping through the ooze; of 
tiny amethystine red-beaked kinefishers; of kingfishers 
that are black and white, or large and orey and speckled : 
of white egrets, of the brown and. stork-like Scopus 
umbretta ; of spur-winged geese; and of all-devouring 
; Gypohicrac vultures. A rustling in the vegetation, and 
a large varanus lizard slips into the water ; or on some 
trampled bank a crocodile lies asleep in the warm sun, 
with a fixed smirk hanging about his grim muzzle. These 
lagoons are places seething with life—life that is ever 
stirring, striving and active—and when you suddenly 
arrive, slipping and splashing in the watery footholds, the 
sudden silence that greets you is rather the frightened 
expectant hush of a thousand apprehensive creatures. 
Beyond the lagoons and this strip of mud and water, rises 
an almost impenetrable barrier of forest, nearly impossible 
to pass by land, but which is fortunately pierced by many 
little arms or natural canals of the Congo that intersect it 
and penetrate to the firm dry land beyond, As you paddle 
gently in a native canoe through the watery alleys of this 
vegetable Venice, the majestic trees firmly interlaced 
above and overarching the canal, shrouding all in pale 
green gloom, the glimpses and vistas that you get through 
the forest reveal many beautiful forms of bird and insect 
life. Barbetst with red foreheads and large notched bills 
are sitting in stupid meditation on the twigs, giving a harsh 
and mechanical squeak if the too near approach of the 
canoe disturbs their reverie. Little African woodpeckers 
are creeping up the branches, deftly turning round towards 
the unseen side when they observe you; large green 
mantises or “ praying insects” are chasing small flies with 
their great pouncing forelegs, and every now and then a 
* Anophthalmus, + Pogonorhyncus ceogaster. 
