Therefore, I regarded the cool shade of the forest trees with distrust, knowing that, from the luxuriant bushes of the flowering mimosa, even at that moment the large eyes of some fierce inhabitant of the forest--the lion, tiger, or leopard, for instance--might be waiting to seize its prey. For which reason, though a tropical sun was pouring its intense rays on my head, I, being so utterly unarmed, merely skirted the forest, seeking among its numerous and varied vegetation for some kind of fruit to stay my craving. One plant I speedily recognised--that was the banana; the fruit of this tree, now so generally known, is usually from four to five inches long, shaped something like a cucumber, and grows in great bunches that weigh twelve pounds and upwards. Here, however, I was perfectly astonished at their immense size, doubling, if not trebling, those in other parts of the world. With the aid of a stick and some climbing I succeeded in procuring enough to satisfy my hunger, and in doing so startled a swarm of birds, which flew so speedily away that I could but see numerous flashes through the boughs of bright plumage, while the screaming and jabbering of monkeys in the depths of the forest assured me of those gentlemen's presence. My wants respecting breakfast being appeased, I determined to make for a ridge of rocks that, running into the sea, formed a small promontory, for the shore was a small secluded bay, which easily accounted for the calmness of the water when I had passed the reef. I hoped there to find shelter from the broiling sun, that was beginning most unpleasantly to blister my skin where it showed through the tatters in my clothes, while as to my brain, I believe it would have been scorched up long ago had I not gathered a small banana leaf--I say _small_, for they grow to two yards in length--and fastened it over my head with a piece of the stem of a beautiful parasitical plant which I found growing over nearly all the forest trees, climbing up to their topmost branches, and from thence sending a mass of slender threads, from branch to branch, in graceful festoons to the ground. The name of this beautiful creeper I learned later to be _Cynanchum obtusifolium_; the Dutch settlers, however, call it Bavian-tow, or baboon ropes, because by their aid baboons and monkeys climb the trees to gather the fruit. The Kaffirs also use these ropes to lash together the thatch of their huts. It may be thought, if these creepers are strong enough to support baboons, and serve as cordage, how I could break them asunder. First, then, the commencement of the filaments are scarcely stronger than pack-thread, but grow thicker and thicker, till about the size of a man's arm. Secondly, by a happy chance, the large clasp-knife--the sailor's constant companion and friend--which I always carried in my pocket, yet remained there, despite the buffeting I had received.