Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/345

 Following the path above the little town through a sort of rough scrub, the ground was overgrown with some strongly smelling aromatic herb, burnt brown in the sun. We saw here one of the rare ornithoptera, a gorgeous blue velvet butter-*fly, and numbers of grasshoppers with yellow wings that made an odd noise like little castanets as they came out of the dead herbage. There did not seem to be many living things except coconut palms and the beautiful heavily scented blooms of the frangipani. We met the gorgeous nuns belonging to some Roman Catholic sisterhood, dressed in dazzling blue raiment, which would have put the "lilies of the field" quite out of countenance; and we avoided the tropical forest that clothed the farther side of the island, tempting as it looked at a distance, and were glad that we had done so. Several of the passengers, who had made an expedition to it in search of entomological specimens, brought back more than they intended, as they got badly stung by green ants and ticks. The green ants are very pretty and interesting at a safe distance; they are green with bright red legs, and make their nests by sewing together the leaves of a tree, so as to form a sort of large bag, but their sting is very gainful. The ticks are much more seriously unpleasant, as they burrow in the skin to lay