During The Rainy Season It Is Quite Impassable,
The River Filling Its Bed And Rushing Between Perpendicular
Cliffs Many Hundred Feet High.
Even at the time of my visit it
was most precipitous and fatiguing, yet women and children came
over it daily, and men carrying heavy loads of palm sugar (of very
little value).
It was along the path between the lower and the
upper falls, and about the margin of the upper pool, that I found
most insects. The large semi-transparent butterfly, Idea tondana,
flew lazily along by dozens, and it was here that I at length
obtained an insect which I had hoped but hardly expected to meet
with - the magnificent Papilio androcles, one of the largest and
rarest known swallow-tailed butterflies. During my four days'
stay at the falls, I was so fortunate as to obtain six good
specimens. As this beautiful creature flies, the long white tails
flicker like streamers, and when settled on the beach it carries
them raised upwards, as if to preserve them from injury. It is
scarce even here, as I did not see more than a dozen specimens in
all, and had to follow many of them up and down the river's bank
repeatedly before I succeeded in their capture. When the sun
shone hottest, about noon, the moist beach of the pool below the
upper fall presented a beautiful sight, being dotted with groups
of gay butterflies - orange, yellow, white, blue, and green -
which on being disturbed rose into the air by hundreds, forming
clouds of variegated colours.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 326 of 419
Words from 88795 to 89055
of 114260
