, rich, green, and luxuriant. Green! yes, but of a hundred
different tints, from the tender hue of the young shoots that was almost
yellow, to a deep olive that turned to black in the shadows. If the
tints of the vegetation were admirable, no less so were its forms; for
there were palms of many different kinds, including the coconut palm in
thousands, close down to the water's edge. The traveller tree, shaped
like a fan made of organ pipes; the banana and plantain, loaded with
great bunches of fruit, each bunch a fair load for a man; there were
great clumps of feathery bamboo; there were big trees covered with
scarlet flowers instead of leaves; there was the flaming bougainvillea
in profusion; and, in addition, there were great trailing cables of
orchids, of weird shapes and vivid colouring reaching from bough to
bough. Yes, there was plenty to see and marvel at, and there would be
more when those few yards of rippling water had been spanned and their
feet pressed the lush grass of yonder flowery mead close by the river's
margin; humming birds, the plumage of which shone in the sun like
burnished gold and glowing gems, butterflies as big as sparrows, with
wings painted in hues so gorgeous that the painter who should attempt to
reproduce them would be driven to despair, enormous dragon-flies
flitting hither and thither over the still surface of the river,
kingfishers as big as parrots, monkeys in hundreds, agoutis, and,
alas!--to strengthen its resemblance to that other Eden--serpents as
well, contact with which meant death.

At last! at last! the sails were furled, the ropes coiled neatly down,
the decks restored to order, and the word was given to lower the boats.
Never, probably, was an order more joyously obeyed. The men rushed to
the tackles with shouts and laughter, like schoolboys who have
unexpectedly been given a holiday, and in an incredibly short time the
boats were all afloat and were being brought one by one to the gangway.
Then, under the joint supervision of the Captain and Stukely, the sick
were led or carried along the deck and handed gently down over the side,
the whole of them being sent ashore in the first boat that left the
ship, with Bascomb, the master, in charge, his duty being to see that no
unwholesome fruit or poisonous berries were eaten unwittingly. Next,
the sick having been temporarily disposed of, there followed the strong
and able-bodied, who took ashore with them spars, tackles, and