e; the
roots of some, indeed, were actually covered, and here and there the
more lofty ones, leaning over the stream on either side, mingled their
foliage overhead and formed a leafy arch, completely excluding the sun's
rays and throwing that part of the river which they overarched into a
deep green twilight shadow to which the eye had to become accustomed
before it was possible to see anything. A hundred yards ahead of us
there was a long continuous _tunnel_ formed in this way; and, on
entering it, the men with one accord rested on their oars and allowed
the boat to glide onward by her own momentum, whilst they looked around
them, lost in wonder and admiration.

As we shot into this watery lane, and the roll of the oars in the
rowlocks ceased, the silence became profound, almost oppressively so,
marked and emphasised as it was by the lap and gurgle of the water
against the boat's planking. Not a bird was here to be seen; not even
an insect--except the mosquitoes, by the by, which soon began to swarm
round us in numbers amply sufficient to atone for the absence of all
other life. But the picture presented to our view by the long avenue of
variegated foliage, looped and festooned in every direction with flowery
creepers loaded with blooms of the most gorgeous hues; and the deep
green--almost black--shadows, contrasted here and there with long arrowy
shafts of greenish light glancing down through invisible openings in the
leafy arch above, and lighting up into prominence some feathery spray or
drooping flowery wreath, was enchantingly beautiful.

We were all sitting motionless and silent, wrapped in admiration of the
enchanting scene, all the more enchanting, perhaps, to us from its
striking contrast to the long monotony of sea and sky only upon which
our eyes had so lately rested, when a slight, sharp, crackling sound--
proceeding from apparently but a short distance off in the bush on our
port bow--arrested our attention. The boat had by this time lost her
way, and the men, abruptly roused from their trance of wondering
admiration, were about once more to dip their oars in the water when Mr
Austin's uplifted hand arrested them.

The sounds continued at intervals; and presently, without so much as the
rustling of a bough to prepare us for the apparition, a magnificent
antelope emerged from the bush about fifty yards away, and stepped
daintily down into the water. His quick eye detected in an instant the
unwonted