Edge of the Jungle
Edge of the Jungle
This new book of Mr. Beebe's will win as great an audience as his Jungle Peace, of which Theodore Roosevelt said, "A positive addition to the sum total of genuine literature."
Book Excerpt
imately he became a fixed ornament of our culinary and taxidermic cosmic system, and whatever he did was accomplished with the most remarkable contortions of limbs and body. To watch him rake was to learn new anatomical possibilities; when he paddled, a surgeon would be moved to astonishment; when he caught butterflies, a teacher of physical culture would not have believed his eyes.
At night, when our servants had sealed themselves hermetically in their room in the neighboring thatched quarters, and the last squeak from our cots had passed out on its journey to the far distant goal of all nocturnal sounds, we began to realize that our new home held many more occupants than our three selves. Stealthy rustlings, indistinct scrapings, and low murmurs kept us interested for as long as ten minutes; and in the morning we would remember and wonder who our fellow tenants could be. Some nights the bungalow seemed as full of life as the tiny French homes labeled, "Hommes 40: Chevaux 8," when the hastily
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As the other reviewer said, fine writing (and showing that Beebe was a very cultured person.) Very enjoyable.
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One wouldn't expect interesting stories and fine writing from a naturalist's account of his 3 years in Guiana, but Beebe is that rare case. If you're curious and like animals, this is exactly for you. Even the smallest creature becomes an actor in a hilariously funny or highly astonishing story through the author's way of recounting the find. The three zoologists must have had enormous fun. Excellent.
08/30/2008