LIFE AND SCENES IN THE JUNGLE 29 



is gnawing the bark from a dead limb, possibly to 

 capture some insect secreted under it ; but as rodents 

 usually live upon vegetable diet, he may have some 

 other reason tor this. 



It is five o'clock, and the shadows are beginning 

 to deepen in the forest. I see two little grey 

 monkeys playing in the top of a very tall tree. The 

 birds are tiresome and monotonous. Yonder is a 

 small snake twined around the limb of a bushy tree. 

 He is doubtless hunting for a nest of young birds. 

 The low, muttering sound of distant thunder is 

 heard, but little by little it grows louder. It is the 

 familiar voice of the tornado. I must prepare 

 for it. 



The stove is now lighted, and a pie-pan of water 

 set on it. In it is stirred an ounce of desiccated 

 soup. It is heated to the boiling-point, and then 

 set on the swinging table. Then a can of mutton 

 is emptied into another pan of the same kind, and a 

 few crackers broken and stirred in. The soup is 

 eaten while the meat is being cooked. When it is 

 ready, the flame of the stove is turned off, and the 

 second course of dinner is served, consisting of 

 canned mutton, crackers and water. The dishes, ^ 

 consisting usually of three tin pie-pans and a cup, 

 are thrust out into the adjacent bush, for the ants 

 and other insects to clean during the night. 



In the meantime Moses has had his supper, and 

 gone to his own little cage, to find shelter from the 

 approaching storm. The curtains are hung up on 

 the side of the cage, from which the tornado is 



