192 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ctt. 
and stamped agreement to bring you before a 
tribunal, but you will eventually lose more than you 
have temporarily gained. I think this reliance of 
one man upon another breeds sincerity, and in¬ 
sincerity is such a marked defect of all civilized life. 
Then, in civilization, there is the almost universal 
worship of wealth, the ceaseless striving for which 
cannot bring out the best in a man’s mind or body. 
In the tropics, you may chance, if luck favours 
you, to make enough to keep you in comparative 
comfort for the rest of your days, but you have, 
in most instances, to make it by healthy work in 
the open, generally by the sweat of your brow, 
and under conditions which give you leisure to 
think. 
Lastly, there is the beautiful country and the sun ! 
There may be some people who yearn for grey 
skies; the majority, I think, prefer the joy and 
brightness of sunshine. Gorgeous flowers and 
butterflies, that surpass in their tints the most 
beautiful of enamels, song-birds that keep the 
forests cheery with their music, the perpetual 
laughter and chatter of natives, the mystery of the 
lonely, uninhabited pori, the glorious moonshine and 
the startling brilliance of the stars, the absolute 
freedom from the noise of cities—all go to create a 
romantic atmosphere which seems to tinge the mind 
and creep insidiously into the blood. The memory 
