60 
THE GOLDEN RIVER. 
years’ crops the ground becomes exhausted, and 
the settler moves on to a fresh piece, where the 
same operation is repeated. 
Now and again we glimpsed the ghost of some 
such little clearing in the woods, a few rotting 
posts showing where the hut had been. Already 
the tide of vegetation had almost obliterated 
the traces of human occupation. The rank 
undergrowth had smothered the clearing; 
bamboos, and the shining dark leaves of wild 
orange trees, made a tangle over the stumps of 
the felled trees, and the wild animals quenched 
their thirst at the tiny pool. A small wooden 
cross stood sometimes on the edge of the track, 
marking a grave. No name was carved on it, 
but an old hat or the fluttering remains of a 
shirt were hung upon it. At one place a little 
group of natives got off the train, and collected 
silently, with bent heads, round such a grave : 
but the moving train soon hid them from our 
sight. 
We were very weary by the time the train 
drew out of the forest and we reached the small 
township that stood in the open. It seemed 
very far away from the outside world, and this 
remoteness was intensified by the silence that 
seemed to brood over the place. The one road 
was wide, and on either side were raised foot¬ 
paths bordered by trees. The soil was very red, 
and the vegetation a brilliant green. Buildings 
stood along the footpaths, either stores or living 
