After crossing some four miles of level sand, we reached a dense forest, which extended from the margin of the water inland beyond the range of our vision. Here the curious vegetation was so dense that the sun failed to penetrate the canopy of foliage; but the ground was bare of brushwood, and walking was easy and pleasant. Some curious trees, shaped like a mighty fungus, or an open umbrella, excited our wonder. They bore no leaves, but threw out a thick, unbroken canopy, of the colour and texture of an aloe plant, which curved downwards nearly to the ground; and above this, from the centre of the stem, shot a spike of crimson flowers, a yard or more in length. Each tree formed an admirable tent; and many of them seemed to be of vast age; the canopy being furrowed as with the growth of centuries, the edges torn into dry and withered ribbons, and the stems of enormous girth. At first we really took them to be the habitations of human beings or beasts; and it was not until we had examined them closely that we ascertained they were really trees.
As we went farther into the forest these curious trees increased in number and in size; indeed, in some places they covered the ground so thickly, that it was difficult to walk amongst them; and we found it best and quickest to make a detour. In passing one of these groves of vegetable umbrellas, we were startled by a perfect tumult of chattering cries, and scores of strange beings hurried out from under them and surrounded us, skipping and hopping about, running to and fro like fiends in the dusky light of the forest. Had we not seen these singular beings with our own eyes, we should never have believed in their existence. They were fashioned much like ourselves from the feet to the shoulders, the arms, however, being proportionately much shorter--but there all outward resemblance ceased. Neck they had none, the shoulders gradually tapering away to the head, which was free from hair, and the face was intermediate in expression between that of a man, and the higher or Simian race of beasts. Their bodies were entirely naked, and of a chalky-brown colour, and they averaged perhaps five feet in height. So fierce and threatening did these curious creatures become that we fired our rifles off to frighten them, which had the desired effect, and they fled in chattering terror, grinning and grimacing into the trees, and we saw them no more. Whether they were gifted with greater than brute intelligence we know not; we were too startled and alarmed to make a closer acquaintance with them. Dr. Hermann himself was visibly disconcerted; and the rest of us were glad when they vanished from our sight, Sandy especially so---perhaps he dreaded the Doctor sending him in quest of one of these curious creatures. Even our dog refused to go near them, and lay down trembling with fright.