The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Third: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Ceylon and India; With Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands and BurmahKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Third: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Ceylon and India; With Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands and Burmah
Knox, Thomas Wallace
East Indies -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
A Dyak village about thirty miles above Sarawak was their destination;
the crew of the boat was composed of half a dozen natives with strong
arms, and as they had promise of a liberal payment on condition of
making a rapid journey, they applied all their strength to the oars.
Luckily, they were favored by the tide, and by a breeze blowing up
stream, and very soon after getting under way they spread the sail of
coarse matting and laid their oars at one side. The Dyaks along the
coast are excellent sailors, but their boats are not built after the
most approved models of naval architecture; under the best
circumstances, they rarely make more than six miles an hour, and the
most of them are satisfied with three or four. It took about seven hours
of rowing and sailing for our friends to reach the village; but the time
passed pleasantly, as there was an abundance of things of interest on
the shore, and each bend of the stream revealed something new. The
forest was dense, and contained several varieties of trees they had not
yet seen, and there was an apparent abundance of animal and insect life.
Every few minutes the boys would catch sight of a bright-winged bird or
a gaudy butterfly, and they managed to secure several specimens of the
latter.
While they were halted for a few moments under a tree that overhung the
water, Fred's attention was attracted by a butterfly that fluttered
among the leaves for a moment, and then seemed to disappear like the
harlequin in a play. While he was looking for it there came another and
then another, and each of them in turn vanished like the first. Frank
was as much excited as Fred over the strange phenomenon, and asked the
Doctor what could have become of the butterflies, as he was certain they
had not flown away, and he could not see them among the leaves.
"Look closely at the leaves," said the Doctor, "and perhaps you will
find them."
"I've looked at every leaf," Fred answered; "but there is no butterfly
to be seen."
"I've found one," said Frank, as he took what appeared to be a leaf
between his thumb and forefinger.
[Illustration: LEAF BUTTERFLY IN FLIGHT AND REPOSE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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