and" across the stream that flowed darkly
and sluggishly some twelve or fifteen feet below.

We were an hour at the least, in toiling through this tangled wood,
though it did not extend more than half a mile. After leaving it behind
us, frequent rapids showed that we were steadily ascending as we
proceeded. Birds, such as we had not before seen on the island, and
which reminded me of some of my old acquaintances of the New England
woods, perched upon the trees, or flew familiarly around us. One or
two, of the woodpecker tribe, looked wonderfully natural and home-like,
as they sat industriously drumming upon hollow logs. Another, a small,
brown bird, with modest plumage, surprised and delighted me, by a clear,
full whistle, that sounded not unlike that of our own robin redbreast.
We also saw numbers of a species of pigeon with black bills,
slate-coloured bodies, and a ruff of white feathers about the neck. One
of these Johnny brought down with his bow, besides wounding very
seriously, (as he alleged), a considerable number of others. The
woodpeckers and whistlers enjoyed a temporary immunity from his
formidable shafts, reluctantly granted them at my intercession in their
behalf, on the score of old associations.

About an hour before noon we reached a spot where the stream was divided
by a rocky islet, around which it spread out like a small lake. A
grove, of a very peculiar appearance, and seeming to consist of a single
tree, sheltered and overspread the entire spot.

Here we concluded to halt, beginning by this time to feel quite tired,
and inclined to rest. The water was shallow at this point, and Max
wading over to the little island, presently called upon us to follow him
if we wished to behold "a veritable banyan tree." Whether a banyan or
not, (Arthur pronounced it to be a species of barren fig), it was
certainly a wonderful specimen of vegetation. The main trunk, springing
up in the centre of the islet, was nearly three feet in diameter. At
the height of some fifteen feet from the ground, large branches extended
horizontally in every direction. From these branches, at regular
intervals, pendulous, vine-like shoots sprouted and grew downwards until
they reached the ground, where they took root, and gradually increasing
in size formed new trunks or pillars, to support a further extension of
the branches. This process of growth had gone on until the tree had
overrun the entire island, resembling a flat