tting us on the back, and others examining our handkerchiefs, and
caps, and buttons, or any article of our dress they could get hold of.
We patted them on the back in return, but as they had no clothes, we
took hold of their hair and admired it; and Jerry must needs catch one
fellow by the nose, and assured him that he had a very handsome nob! In
this way we in a short time became excellent friends, though, as we had
no interpreter, we could only communicate with each other by signs.
When they found that we did not understand what they said, they hallooed
louder and louder; and as they had voices of most stentorian power, they
at last spoke to us in a perfect roar, till they almost deafened us! By
their tones we fancied that they were saying, "Well, if you cannot
understand that, you must be desperately stupid fellows."

When they found that we had come as friends, they invited us to
accompany them to the village, or, as Jerry called it, their wigwamment,
about a quarter of a mile off, in a sheltered nook among the trees.
Fearing no treachery, we agreed, and we walked along in the most
amicable way, they slapping us on the back, and we slapping them, while
they often indulged in the most uproarious shouts of laughter. Stopping
suddenly, they asked us by signs if we were hungry, and immediately
gathered a number of fungi, which grew in clusters round the roots of a
tree which Mr McRitchie told us was an evergreen beech. They handed
them to Jerry and me, at the same time patting us on the stomach.

"What are these toadstools for, old gentleman?" exclaimed Jerry, holding
them up and laughing. "They don't want us to eat these, surely, for our
luncheon?"

"They do, though," said Mr McRitchie. "They are the edible fungi.
Just take a piece; the people hereabouts eat them largely."

Jerry on this took a large mouthful, but spat it out, declaring that he
would just as soon eat shoe-leather. I ate a small piece, but thought
it tasted very insipid, and not very digestible. The savages looked
astonished at our want of taste, and, to show that they appreciated the
production more than we did, crammed quantities of it into their mouths.

"Come, Mr McRitchie, for the advancement of science you must eat some!"
exclaimed Jerry, handing him a big fungus.

This was a favourite expression of the doctor's; nor, to do him justice,
was he slack to put his principles into practice. I have since often
remarked in England the roots