When a male Argus wishes to show off his magnificence to his spouse—­or when she asks him to show it off, we know not which—­he makes a circle in the forest some ten or twelve feet in diameter, which he clears of every leaf, twig, and branch.  On the margin of this circus there is invariably a projecting branch, or overarching root a few feet above the ground, on which the female takes her place to watch the exhibition.  This consists of the male strutting about, pluming his feathers, and generally displaying his gorgeous beauty.

“Vat ineffable vanity!” exclaimed the professor, after gazing for some time in silence.

His own folly in thus speaking was instantly proved by the two birds bringing the exhibition to an abrupt close and hastily taking wing.

Not long after seeing this they came to a small but deep and rapid river, which for a time checked their progress, for there was no ford, and the porters who carried Verkimier’s packages seemed to know nothing about a bridge, either natural or artificial.  After wandering for an hour or so along its banks, however, they found a giant tree which had fallen across the stream and formed a natural bridge.

On the other side of the stream the ground was more rugged and the forest so dense that they had to walk in a sort of twilight—­only a glimpse of blue sky being visible here and there through the tree-tops.  In some places, however, there occurred bright little openings which swarmed with species of metallic tiger-beetles and sand-bees, and where sulphur, swallow-tailed, and other butterflies sported their brief life away over the damp ground by the water’s edge.

The native forest path which they followed was little better than a tunnel cut through a grove of low rattan-palms, the delicate but exceedingly tough tendrils of which hung down in all directions.  These were fringed with sharp hooks which caught their clothing and tore it, or held on unrelentingly, so that the only way of escape was to step quietly back and unhook themselves.  This of itself would have rendered their progress slow as well as painful, but other things tended to increase the delay.  At one place they came to a tree about seven feet in diameter which lay across the path and had to be scrambled over, and this was done with great difficulty.  At another, a gigantic mud-bath—­the wallowing hole of a herd of elephants—­obstructed the way, and a yell from one of the porters told that in attempting to cross it he had fallen in up to the waist.  A comrade in trying to pull him out also fell in and sank up to the armpits.  But they got over it—­as resolute men always do—­somehow!

“Zis is horrible!” exclaimed the professor, panting from his exertions, and making a wild plunge with his insect-net at some living creature.  “Hah! zee brute!  I have ’im.”

The man of science was flat on his stomach as he spoke, with arm outstretched and the net pressed close to the ground, while a smile of triumph beamed through the mud and scratches on his face.