Martialists have the same
delight in bright colours as Orientals, with far greater taste in
selection and combination; and the favourite hues not only of their
flowers, tame birds, fishes, and quadrupeds, but of plants in whose
cultivation utility has been the primary object, contrast signally, as
I have said, with the dull tints of the undomesticated flora and
fauna, of which comparatively scanty remnants were visible here and
there in this rich country.
Presently we came within sight of the river, over which was a single
bridge, formed by what might be called a tube of metal built into
strong walls on either bank. In fact, however, the sides were of open
work, and only the roof and floor were solid. The river at this, its
narrowest point, was perhaps a furlong in breadth, and it was not
without instinctive uneasiness that I trusted to the security of a
single piece of metal spanning, without even the strength afforded by
the form of the arch, so great a space.
The first object we were to visit lay at some distance down the
stream. As we approached the point, we passed a place where the river
widened considerably.
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