In consideration for the trials the two men had passed through, they were permitted to take a day off work and recover from the fright they had undoubtedly received; and, if I am not mistaken, Harvey had suffered more alarm than his dull and less imaginative companion. After this interlude the day’s work began in real earnest, each surveyor taking with him an escort of five or six labourers, to cut their way in different directions, measuring levels and distances, and surveying the contour of the country. The troches which they cut into the bush form long, straight tunnels, but the progress they make is slow. Each day the distance from the camp cut in this manner is increased, and parties have a two hours’ walk through the troches before they arrive at the point they had reached the previous day. The levels and the land surveyed during the morning are carefully recorded and marked on the large charts upon the return to camp. Thus day after day knowledge is gained of a country hitherto untrodden by human footsteps. The party that I was visiting had been engaged upon this work for over six months, and one of their number had never once during all that period left the bush. Magazines, newspapers, and letters arrived at camp once a week, but visitors never came, and mine was the first strange face he had seen for half a year. He was a quiet cultured, well-educated youth, energetic, and in love with his work, well content to be gaining an experience in his profession denied to those less venturous and plodding than himself. On my return journey from the camp I was guided by a small Indian boy, strong, fleet of foot, who although encumbered with my baggage yet raced along the trail with such rapidity that I was in danger of losing sight of him. After a mile or two I wished to call a halt, but was unsuccessful in making him understand my wishes, so I was forced to keep up with him as best I could, and wait until we arrived at the deserted camp before taking a rest. When we arrived I sat again in the shelter afforded by the now abandoned hut, and rested for an hour or more, marvelling at the wonder all around me. Confused masses of shrubs and plants met my gaze, which would have been greeted with enthusiastic admiration if seen in English hot-houses. Wild bananas grew in large clumps, their long leaves torn by the wind, their stems covered with climbing ferns. Bamboos sixty or seventy feet high swayed in the faintest breeze and creaked in every joint.