AFFECTIONATE BUTTERFLIES 
a regular swelling all round. One of the peculiarities of 
this tree is that it produces a kind of vegetable wool 
contained within fairly hard capsules. 
That was indeed a day of surprises for us. As we were 
proceeding over another hill range between two streams 
(elevation 2,850 feet), we saw at last some butterflies of 
a gorgeous lemon yellow, some of a rich orange, others 
of red and black, great numbers of pure white, and some 
huge ones of an indescribably beautiful, metallic blue 
colour. There were swarms of them near the water. So 
unaccustomed were they to see human beings that many 
settled on my white coat and on my straw hat and were 
carried along undisturbed for long distances upon my 
person. They were so beautiful that I had not the desire 
to kill them, even for the sake of bringing back a valuable 
collection. It would have been easy to capture them, as 
you could touch them several times with your fingers 
before they would fly away. One butterfly particularly 
took a great fancy to my left hand, in which I held the 
reins of my mule, and on which it sat during our marches 
for several days — much to my inconvenience, for I was 
afraid of injuring it. It would occasionally fly away 
and then return. At night, while we were camping, I 
transferred it to my straw hat, on which it quietly 
remained until the next morning. The moment I had 
mounted my mule, the butterfly would at once fly again 
to my hand. This great affection was due chiefly, I 
believe, not to any magnetic attraction, but merely to the 
delicately scented soap which I used in my morning bath, 
and which greatly attracted the butterfly. 
On many occasions on that expedition I had similar 
experiences with butterflies. 
For the first time, too, I perceived that day a few 
colibris — tiny humming birds of wonderful plumage. 
Twenty-three kilometres from Goyabeira, after many 
ups and downs along a deep-channelled, slushy trail, and 
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