great extent swampy,
the margin of the creeks being lined with mangroves that presented a
very curious appearance as they stood up out of the dark, slimy-looking
water, their trunks supported upon a network of naked, twisted roots
that strongly suggested to me the idea of spiders' legs swollen and
knotted with some hideous, deforming disease. The trees themselves,
however, apart from their twisted, gnarled, and knotted roots, presented
a very pleasing appearance, for they had just come into full leaf, and
their fresh green foliage was deeply grateful to the eye satiated with a
long and wearisome repetition of the panorama of unbroken sea and sky.
Beyond the belt of mangroves the islands were overgrown with dense bush,
interspersed with tall trees, some of which were rich with violet
blossoms growing in great drooping clusters, like the flowers of the
laburnum; while others were heavily draped with long, trailing sprays of
magnificent jasmine, of which there were two kinds, one bearing a pinky
flower, and the other a much larger star-like bloom of pure white. The
euphorbia, acacia, and baobab or calabash-tree were all in bloom; and
here and there, through openings between the trunks of the mangroves,
glimpses were caught of rich splashes of deep orange-colour, standing
out like flame against the dark background of shadowed foliage, that
subsequent investigation proved to be clumps of elegant orchids. It
appeared that we had entered the river at precisely the right time of
the year to behold it at its brightest and best, for the spring rains
had only recently set in, and all Nature was rioting in the refreshment
of the welcome moisture and bursting forth into a joyous prodigality of
leaf and blossom, of colour and perfume, of life and glad activity. The
forest rang with the calls and cries of pairing birds; flocks of
parrots, parrakeets, and love-birds were constantly wheeling and darting
hither and thither; kingfishers flitted low across the placid water, or
watched motionless from some overhanging branch for the passage of their
unsuspecting prey; the wydah bird flaunted his gay plumage in the
brilliant sunshine, where it could be seen to the fullest advantage; and
butterflies, like living gems, flitted happily from flower to flower.
Astern of us, some three miles away, lay Boolambemba Point, the
southernmost extremity of the group of islands to which I have already
alluded, where the embouchure of the river may be sa