effected the passage in safety.

* * * * *

Madame Pfeiffer gives a bright description of the beauties of the road as
she pushed further into the interior. Crossing a small waterfall, she
struck right into the depths of the virgin forest, pursuing a narrow path
which ran along the bank of a little stream. Palms, with their lordly
crests, soared high above the other trees, which, intertwined by
inextricable boughs, formed the loveliest fairy-bowers imaginable; every
stem, every branch was luxuriously festooned with fantastic orchids;
while creepers and ferns glided up the tall, smooth trunks, mingling with
the boughs, and hanging in every direction waving curtains of flowers, of
the sweetest odours and the most vivid colours. With shrill twittering
cry and rapid wings flashed the humming-bird from bough to bough; the
pepper-pecker, with glowing plumage, soared timorously upwards; while
parrots and paroquets, and innumerable birds of beautiful appearance,
added, by their cries and motions, to the liveliness of the scene.

Madame Pfeiffer visited an Indian village. It lay deep in the forest
recesses, and consisted of five huts, or rather sheds, formed of leaves,
and measuring eighteen feet by twelve feet, erected under lofty trees.
The frames were formed of four poles stuck in the ground, with another
reaching across; and the roof was wrought of palm-leaves, by no means
impervious to the rain. The sides were open. In the interior hung a
hammock or two; and on the earth a few roots, Indian corn, and bananas
were roasting under a heap of ashes. In one corner, under the roof, a
small supply of provisions was hoarded up, and round about were scattered
a few gourds; these are used by the Puris as substitutes for "crockery."
Their weapons, the long bows and arrows, leaned against the wall.