The forest on that side is very thick with trees, and noted for its wild beasts. But they come out mostly at night. A good dog is a good protection. Not that he is a match for either "boas, or tigers, or jaguars, or bushmasters," but by his scent and quickness of hearing he can detect their lurking places, and he never fails to give you timely warning. But many of these little creatures become the prey of these forest roaming monsters.

Horatio Gladstone, with whom we were staying, had a dog-a fine bull-terrier, full of pluck and go. If he had been blessed with a little discretion it would have been better for him. But he would tackle anything. One day, running in the bush near the water, he roused a large water boa. For a moment he stood, and, facing it, barked, the next it came down upon him with its mouth wide open, and just swallowed him alive. "We thought we heard him barking inside," said Alec, but we hadn't our guns with us, and so we had to make off. We have never seen him since.

It was in this forest that one of the men was bitten by the "bushmaster." This is one of the most dreaded of our snakes. It is about eight feet long, and has a terrible mouth and fangs. Its poison is said to be very deadly. dreaded both by man and beast.

In fact, it is If you meet it

you must either kill it or be killed. Flight is impossible, for it can run faster than you, and it can climb up a tree. There is only one thing you can do, and that is cross the water if you be near either river or creek, and even there it will follow you sometimes. Of course, the best thing is to shoot it. But sometimes a man has no gun. On this occasion the man was looking in a hole for a labba, when out sprang this snake. As quick as possible he turned and struck it with his cutlass, but before he could step aside, the head of the snake already severed from the body, bit him in the heel. He sung out to his mates, and made for the boat on the river side-in five minutes he staggered like a drunken man. "My eyes," he said, "grew dark; they got hold of me and put me in the boat." Now, luckily, there lived close by a man called Barker, who is known as a snake charmer. He seems to have a wonderful power over all the snake tribe. There is not one, I am assured, that he will not take up in his hands. He knows the antidote to all their poisons. "This man," he said, "gave me some medicine. I thought I was dead. My head nearly burst with pain; my eyes were dark, but by and by perspiration came on, and there oozed out through my skin a white substance like sawdust or very small shavings. I began to recover.

But it was months ere I was myself again. The mark of the wound is still on my foot, and I pray God I may never pass through the like again. Since that day the sight of a snake almost makes me tremble."

As we were walking through the forest, one behind another, we saw a great silk cotton tree. This is one of the largest trees of the forest. It grows to a height of one hundred feet, and is twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. The branches do not begin to grow from the trunk till it has attained a height of about sixty feet. It only blossoms once in three years. The bud contains a fine silk cotton of a light grey colour, hence its name. The humming birds use this "silk cotton" to line their nests with. In connection with this tree there are many superstitions. The people believe it to be the abode of departed spirits. The guardian spirit of the Cumaka, or silk cotton tree, walks around it at mid-day and at twelve o'clock at night. The Rev. John Wray, who laboured here in 1818, says, "On the site for the new chapel, and exactly opposite the house, was a large silk cotton tree which stood in the way." For some time Mr. Wray could get no one with courage enough to cut it down, for the negroes held the tree in great veneration, and feared to offend its spirit. So at last

the parson said, "That tree has got to come down, and if you won't cut it down, I will," and, taking off his coat, he seized the axe and commenced the work. The men looked on for some minutes, and seeing that Mr. Wray was not afraid, and that he was the real transgressor, they took courage, and coming for the axe they began to cut, but at every stroke they cried out, "No me da massa, no me da massa." Thus the tree was brought to the ground. Some say that the juice of the tree is red like blood, others that there is a gaseous exhalation from the tree when cut, which is very injurious, and that these have given rise to the superstition. However, we noticed as we passed this Cumaka tree in the forest, a kind of bush rope ladder, leading up to its branches. "What is that for?" I said. "That is the tree we

often climb up, sitting I have sat hours upon

and waiting for game. hours in that tree, and have brought home many a bird for the pot, and many a bush-hog for the feast."

But now we must return. We have been where cultivation, even in the old days, never found its

way.

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight."

XIV

A

KIMBIA LAKES

N' you, missie, been to dat Kimbia Lake?
We creoles no able fo' go dere.

Dat

place too much bad. Too much snake in de grass, and too much tigah, and too much bad ebery ting. We so glad you come back safe." Such was the greeting we got from our black creole friends on our return. Indeed it was only when we got back to town that we found out what a dangerous place we had been in. One person who has lived in the upper reaches of the river for years, and is well acquainted with bush and forest, said that Kimbia. Lake was a very dangerous place for any one to go to. In fact very few people ever went there. Its wild beasts were noted for their fierceness. There being little food to be got at certain seasons of the year, hunger made them ravenous, and then they would attack anything. The place abounds with