I felt very much better next morning, and we started off very early,
our numbers being increased by the chief and many of his men, so that
I now found myself escorted by quite an army. I took note round here
of the methods used by the Negritos in climbing tall, thick trees to
get fruit and birds-nests. They had long bamboo poles lashed together,
which run up to one of the highest branches fully one hundred feet from
the ground. They often fastened them to the branch of a smaller tree,
and thence slanting upwards to the top of a tall tree, perhaps as much
as sixty feet and more away from the smaller tree. These Negritos axe
splendid climbers, but it seemed wonderful for even a Negrito to trust
himself on one of these bamboos stretching like a thread from tree
to tree so far from the ground. I shall never forget the scramble we
now had into the deepest gorge of all, and how we followed the bed
of a dried-up stream, which in the rainy season must be a series of
cascades and waterfalls, since we had to scramble all the way over
large slippery boulders covered with ferns and BEGONIAS. We at length
came to a tempting-looking river full of large pools of clear water,
into which I longed to plunge. The banks were extremely beautiful,
being overhung by the forest, and the rocky cliffs were half hidden
by large fleshy-leaved climbers and many other beautiful tropical
plants.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121