as he sat smoking his pipe beside the Dyak boy. "It
passes my compr'ension what fun dey find runnin' like child'n arter
butterflies, an' beetles, an' sitch like varmint. My massa am de wisest
man on eart', yet _he_ go a little wild dat way too--sometimes!"

Moses looked at the Dyak boy with a puzzled expression, but as the Dyak
boy did not understand English, he looked intently at the fire, and said
nothing.

Next morning Nigel entered the forest under the guidance of Verkimier
and the Dyak youth, and the orang-utan, which followed like a dog, and
sometimes even took hold of its master's arm and walked with him as if
it had been a very small human being. It was a new experience to Nigel
to walk in the sombre shade beneath the tangled arches of the
wilderness. In some respects it differed entirely from his expectations,
and in others it surpassed them. The gloom was deeper than he had
pictured it, but the shade was not displeasing in a land so close to the
equator. Then the trees were much taller than he had been led to
suppose, and the creeping plants more numerous, while, to his surprise,
the wild-flowers were comparatively few and small. But the scarcity of
these was somewhat compensated by the rich and brilliant colouring of
the foliage.

The abundance and variety of the ferns also struck the youth
particularly.

"Ah! zey are magnificent!" exclaimed Verkimier with enthusiasm. "Look at
zat tree-fern. You have not'ing like zat in England--eh! I have found
nearly von hoondred specimens of ferns. Zen, look at zee fruit-trees. Ve
have here, you see, zee Lansat, Mangosteen, Rambutan, Jack, Jambon,
Blimbing ant many ozers--but zee queen of fruits is zee Durian. Have you
tasted zee Durian?"

"No, not yet."

"Ha! a new sensation is before you! Stay, you vill eat von by ant by.
Look, zat is a Durian tree before you."

He pointed as he spoke to a large and lofty tree, which Mr. A.R.
Wallace, the celebrated naturalist and traveller, describes as
resembling an elm in general character but with a more smooth and scaly
bark. The fruit is round, or slightly oval, about the size of a man's
head, of a green colour, and covered all over with short spines which
are very strong and so sharp that it is difficult to lift the fruit from
the ground. Only the experienced and expert can cut the tough outer
rind. There are five faint lines extending from the base to the apex of
the fruit, through which it may be divided with a heavy k