TO ANKOBAR. 53 



slattern as she is, here also built her nest, a ragged 

 stage of sticks ; whilst in the thick bush be- 

 neath, the prying traveller could detect the round 

 black speaking eye of some other little expectant 

 mother of the feathered race, as, with head 

 thrown aside, she confidingly and instinctively 

 expects that the goodness of man's nature will not 

 allow him. to disturb her sacred functions ; a pleas- 

 ing testimony it is to me, nature's own evidence of 

 the primitive excellence of man, when he and all 

 around were pronounced by the Creator to be 

 good. 



Very soon tiring, however, in my weak state and 

 on such a road, I got on to my mule again, which, 

 if she could have spoken, would certainly have 

 echoed the sentiment of the Portuguese traveller, 

 Bermudez, who, in the 16th century, describing 

 the very same road, represents it as giving him an 

 idea of those in hell, from its steepness and rough- 

 ness. Our poor animals, in fact, were frequently 

 obliged to come to a stand-still to recover their 

 breath ; but they soon set their faces to the steep 

 rocks, and managed, in some way or other, to 

 surmount many very queer-looking places, without 

 shedding us into some uncomfortably deep water- 

 cut precipices that, as we got nearer to the end of 

 our journey, began to be exchanged for the verdant 

 hedges of the previous portion. The whole way 

 we were constantly encountering herds of donkeys, 

 heavily laden with grain, which was being brought 



