enormous loads towards their cunningly constructed
nests; sentries on watch at the doors to
defend the approaches to their fastnesses. T h e y
swarmed among the foliage in columns o f foraging
and plundering marauders and countless
hordes o f ruthless destroyers. In the decaying
vegetation I heard all around me the
xylophagous larvae o f great beetles hard at work
b y thousands, and saw myriads o f termites
destroying with industrious fury everything that
la y in their path, whether animal or vegetable.
Armies o f psyllae and moths innumerable were
startled from the bushes, and from every bough
shrilled the tiresome cicada, ever noisy. Here
the relentless ant-lions prepared their pitfalls, and
there the gh o s tly mantis, green or g r e y , stood
waiting for unwary insects. Diamond beetles
abounded, and many another species, uncouth
and horrid, scrambled away from before my
feet. Nor are these a thousandth part o f the
insect nations that I disturbed; the secluded
island was a world o f infinite activities.
Beyond the flats I came at last to where the
ground sloped upward rapidly, though still
clothed with tall trees and their parasitical plants
and undergrowth; and in spite o f the intense
heat, I continued my exploration, determined to
view the upper regions. Clambering up the
steep side, I had a large choice o f supports;
here a tamarind and next a bombax, now a
projecting branch o f mimosa and now a thick
Uiane, hung down, inviting me to haul myself
upward and forward; the young and pliant teak
sapling or slender jasmine bent as I seized them
to assist my labouring feet, and at last I emerged
above the trees and the tangle o f meshed undergrowth,
and stood upright on the curious spiky
grass, studded with wild pine-apple, ground
orchids and aloes, which covered the summit.
After a general look around the island, I discovered
it was in the form o f a rudely shaped
boot-last, lying east and west, the lowest part
being the flats through which I had just struggled.
It was about three-quarters o f a mile long and
about 200 yards wide. T he heel was formed b y
a narrow projecting ledge rising about 50 feet
nearly perpendicularly from the water. From
this ledge rose the rock 80 feet above it, and
130 feet therefore above the water.
I gazed long on the grand encircling prospect.
A halcyon calm brooded on the lake, eastward,
northward, and southward, until the clear sk y
and stainless silver water met, the clear bounds
o f both veiled b y a gauzy vapour, suggesting
infinity. In a bold, majestic mass to the southeast
rose Alice Island, while a few miles southeast
o f it appeared the Bumbireh group. Opposite
me, to the west, and two miles from where
I stood, was the long cliffy front o f the plateau o f
Uzongora, its s low ly rising summit gemmed with
THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. VOL. I. U.