mmediately adjacent thereto,
our ears were assailed by that babel of sound which prevails with
scarcely a moment's intermission all through the hours of darkness
wherever there is a patch of land large enough to support a few trees
with their almost invariable attendant undergrowth, and which emanates
from the countless myriads of insects which find their home in the
ground, the long grass, the foliage, and the bark of the trees, the
chorus being swelled in the present instance by the cries of countless
lizards--from the diminutive and harmless grass-lizard up to the
alligator, the weird sounds uttered by the nocturnal birds which flitted
on noiseless wing from bough to bough, and the rattling _chirr_ of a
whole army of frogs. And very soon, too, we discovered that we were in
one of the favourite haunts of the mosquito, for the cabin lamp was
scarcely lighted when the pests made their appearance below in absolute
clouds, and so tormented us that we were fain to beat a hasty retreat to
the deck, in the vain hope of avoiding them.

We had no sooner set foot on deck, however, than we felt almost thankful
to the pertinacious little wretches for having driven us there, for a
scene at once burst upon us of such singular and bewitching beauty as I
certainly had never up to that time looked upon. The moon, nearly full,
and tinted a pale but rich crimson by the atmosphere of miasmatic fog
which overhung the lagoon, was just rising into view above the tree-tops
and flinging a long tremulous trail of blood-red colour athwart the
almost stagnant water. The trees near at hand stood up black as ebony,
and motionless as if painted upon the deep soft violet of the cloudless
sky, whilst, as they receded to the right and left, their forms
gradually became merged with and lost in the fog, which floated not in
one uniform mass but in wreaths of ever-changing and most fantastic
shape, with their upper edges here and there delicately tinged in
faintest rainbow hues as the slanting moonbeams fell upon them.
Fireflies, visible only as tiny sparks of light, flitted and glanced and
whirled hither and thither against the black shadows of the foliage,
whilst the black water, so highly phosphorescent that every tiniest
ripple was edged with its own individual and separate line of silvery
fire, glowed and darkened, sparkled and flashed, and at times seemed to
fairly throb with liquid lightning as the countless living creatures
within it stirred i