by the moon. Unless we plant in the
time of the big round moon we expect no fruit.'

"I thought one of my yellow hens wanted to sit, and that it would be
the proper thing to provide her with eggs. To identify the eggs from
fresh ones I made a black pencil mark around each one. After all was
finished I retired from the henhouse and peeped through the palings.
Madam hen clucked up to the nest, as I had always seen hens do, but at
the sight of the marked eggs she started back in a sort of surprise
and alarm. 'What's the matter?' cried the two cocks, stretching wide
legs as they hastened to the spot. They, too, started back, just as
the hen had done, held a hurried consultation and finally ventured to
touch the eggs with their beaks. By this time all the five yellow hens
had gathered round the nest, and pretty soon all the others were
craning their necks to gaze at the marvel. After the cocks had poked
the eggs about a little with their beaks the hens went nearer and
tried to peck off the black marks. All the time there was a great
hubbub of anxious conversation. The next morning more than half the
eggs had been destroyed, and to save those that were left I had to
remove them."

Exploring their new estate was one of their most exciting and at the
same time laborious occupations, for most of the land was so densely
overgrown that it was necessary to carry a bush knife with which to
cut a path as they went, and, moreover, unexpected dangers lurked in
the beautiful ferny depths. "Louis and I went up to see the banana
patch," says the diary, "Louis carrying a knife to clear the road. For
a little way we followed a fairly open path that had previously been
cleared by Louis, but by and by it began to close up and become
treacherously boggy underfoot. Several times we were ankle-deep in mud
and water, and Louis had to slash down the tall vegetation that
obstructed our way. Before long he cried out: 'Behold your banana
patch!' And there it was, sure enough--a great number of sturdy,
thickset young plants, many with bunches of fruit hanging above the
strange purple flower of the plant, choked with a rank undergrowth and
set with the roots in sluggishly running water. Here and there the
gigantic leaves of the great _taro_[42] spread out--a dark, shining
green. It was too much for Louis, who fell to clearing on the spot,
while I went on to the end of the plantation. Once or twice I was
nearly stuck in the bog, but managed to drag my