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THE BOA-CONSTRICTORS VISIT 203
panion: we found neither eggs nor little ones— nothing but a nest of dried rushes, and I did not think that the boa had constructed even that. Arrived at the end of the marsh, we made an interesting discovery ; it was that of a new grotto, which opened out of the rock, and from this flowed a little stream that passed on among the rushes of the marsh.
The floor was composed of an extremely fine and white sort of earth, which, after examining it, I recognized as being ' fullers' clay.' I immediately gathered some handfuls, and carefully placed them in my pocket-handkerchief.
' Here,' said I to the boys, who were regarding me with astonishment, ' is a discovery that will be very welcome to your mother, for this is what soap is made of.'
' I thought,' said Ernest, ' that soap was made by men.'
' The soap that is ordinarily used is made of all sorts of things,' I answered, ' but there is nothing so good as this.'
As we came out of the grotto Jack, who had stayed behind in the marsh, shouted to us that he had killed a young boa. When we came to examine it, however, we found it was only a large |
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