iving gem over the cup of a flower, or the flight of a gaudily
painted kingfisher or parrot. A great silence pervaded the woods, for
the trees were for the most part so lofty that the sough of the wind in
their topmost branches was inaudible, and it was the hour when the
insect world indulged in its daily siesta. Animals there were none to
be seen, but an occasional sudden quick rustle of the grass told them
that snakes were to be watched for and guarded against.

In this fashion the trio proceeded slowly up the river, talking but
little save when one of them in a low voice directed the attention of
the others to some object worthy of notice, until gradually their ears
caught a sound which told them that they were approaching a waterfall;
and five minutes later they sighted it close at hand--and involuntarily
halted, struck dumb and motionless for the moment by the extraordinary
beauty of the picture which lay before them. The waterfall, the sound
of which had reached them a few minutes earlier, was some sixty feet in
height and about twelve feet wide, the river tumbling vertically down
the perpendicular face of the cliff into a wide basin, the lofty sides
of which were draped with the graceful fronds of giant ferns, the broad
leaves of the wild plantain, crimson-leaved acacias, enormous bunches of
maidenhair, and several varieties of plant and bush, the names of which
were unknown to the trio of gazers, and which were brilliant with
blossoms of the most lovely hues. The fall leaped out of a kind of
tunnel formed by the intertwined branches of overhanging trees, the
sombre foliage of which was brightened by numerous festoons of flowering
creepers. But it was not so much the extraordinary fairy-like beauty of
the scene as a whole--the charm of which was further enhanced by the
loveliness of the humming-birds and great butterflies that flitted
hither and thither in the cool, spray-laden atmosphere of the place--nor
the marvellous profusion of new and wonderful flowers of every
conceivable tint that everywhere met the eye, which so powerfully
fascinated the beholder; it was the wonderful, exquisite blue colour of
the water in the basin itself, which, although of crystalline
transparency, receives its marvellous colouring through some freak of
sky reflection penetrating through the branches of the overhanging
trees. The effect of this wonderful colouring must be seen to be
appreciated. And it is seen and admired every