And a time to be glad,
A time both for working and stopping;
For men to make money,
For you to make honey,
And for me to do nothing but hopping.”
During this walk we saw for the first time the great “bird’s nest” fern, adapted for the purpose its name implies. Numbers of these plants grew on the trunks and low branches of the trees, and in many instances they had been made the nesting places of ground-doves. No other species of bird occupied them, but we invariably discovered one or two eggs of the dove, and in one instance the mother allowed us to look at her as she sat on her nest.
Concerning the rest of our foot-journey, it suffices to say that in three days we arrived at Macrebah and there found our boat, the Adaba, all safe. My wonderful boots would certainly not have lasted another day; but I had no further need of them, and in gratitude I hung them to a high pole driven into the sand, and after tracing underneath the well-known words
“Whoever dare these boots displace
Must meet Bombastes face to face!”