254 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
After these events I strolled alone into the dense and 
tangled luxuriance of the jungle woods which lay behind 
our camp. Knowing that the people would be dis- 
cussing their bananas, that no foe could molest them, 
and that they could not quarrel with any natives — there 
being nobody else on the island of Musira but ourselves 
— I was able to leave them to pass the time as they 
might deem most agreeable. Therefore, with all the 
ardour of a boy, I began my solitary exploration. 
Besides, it was so rare for me to enjoy solitude and 
silence in such perfect safety as was here promised to 
me. My freedom in these woods, though I was alone, 
none could endanger or attempt to restrain ; my right 
to climb trees, or explore hollows, or stand on my head, 
or roll about on the leaves or ruins of branch and bark, 
or laugh or sing, 
who could oppose ? 
Being thus abso- 
lute monarch and 
supreme arbiter 
over myself, I 
should enjoy for a 
brief period perfect 
felicity. 
WOOD EX MILK VESSELS. 
That impulse to jump, to bound, to spring upward 
and cling to branches overhead, which is the character- 
istic of a strong green age, I gave free rein to. Un- 
fettered for a time from all conventionalisms, and 
absolved from that sobriety and steadiness which my 
position as a leader of half wild men compelled me to 
assume in their presence, all my natural elasticity of 
body came back to me. I dived under the obstructing 
bough or sprang over the prostrate trunk, squeezed into 
almost impossible places, crawled and writhed like a 
serpent through the tangled undergrowth, plunged 
down into formidable depths of dense foliage, and 
burrowed and struggled with frantic energy among 
shadowing pyramids of vines and creepers, which had 
become woven and plaited by their numbers into a solid 
mass. 
