In the last few minutes, as it hung suspended, gracefully spiraled in the moonlight, it had seemed as perfect as the new-sprouted _moras_ at my feet. As I slowly walked out of the jungle I saw in this the explanation of the simile of artificial scenery, of all the strange magic which had come to me as I entered. The alchemy of moonlight turned all the jungle to perfect growth, growth at rest. In the silvery light was no trace of gnawing worm, of ravening ant, or corroding fungus. The jungle was rejuvenated and made a place more wonderful than any fairyland of which I have read or which I have conceived. The jungle by day, as I have said--that, too, is wonderful. We may have two friends, quite unlike in character, whom we love each for his own personality, and yet it would be a hideous and unthinkable thing to see one transformed into the other.
So, with the mist settling down and tarnishing the great plaque of silver, I left the jungle, glad that I could be far away before the first hint of dawn came to mar the magic. Thus in memory I can always keep the dawn away until I return.
And some time in the future, when the lure of the full moon comes, and I answer, I shall be certain of finding the same silence, the same wonderful light, and the waiting trees and the magic. But Nupee may not be there. He will perhaps have slipped into memory, with Drojak and Aladdin. And if I find no one as silently friendly as Nupee, I shall have to watch alone through my jungle night.
ants, 183, 256, 258; immunity from killing, 231; silvery gray, 223; "white," 233
army ants, behavior in rain, 228, 229; castes, 217; eyes, 219; leap, 212, 213, 223; methods of transportation, 215, 229; moving of nest, 235, 236; tube, 227; trail makers, 221, 222; virility, 234; weight lifted, 216
beetles, 211, 227, 234, 256, 277; mimicry, 257; tiger, 63
British Guiana, mission to, 67; coast lands, 92-102
bushmaster, noosing, 188-195; protective coloration, 191, 192; fangs, 194; size, 195
butterflies, on St. Thomas, 38; on St. Kitts, 48; migration of sulphur, 158
fish, angel, 50, 56; four-eyed, 128; frog, 18; photographing of flying, 23; pipe, 18
flycatchers, 249; fork-tailed, 122, 159; golden-crowned crested, 150; streaked, 196