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Updated: September 19, 2025
It is then that one hears the short, sharp bark of the jackals, the weird howl of migrating families of flying-foxes, the ceaseless hooting of several species of owls, one of which is known as the devil-bird because of its uncanny scream, the croaking of tree-toads and mammoth crickets, mingled with the frequent, distressful cry of some other night bird whose name is unknown, it is heard but not seen.
We had also observed several retreats of flying-foxes in the most shady parts of the Pandanus groves, receiving frequently the first indication of them by the peculiar odour of the animal. Cumuli formed very early in the morning, and increased during the day, sending down showers of rain all round the horizon.
Charley, Brown, and John, had gone into the brush to a camp of flying-foxes, and returned with twelve, which we prepared for luncheon, which allowed our bullock time to recover.
The latter creatures I had seen before, and heard them called flying-foxes. They were very ugly, and one of them; which I took up had a rank, powerful, foxy odour. One of the natives who saw me thought I was going to eat it raw, I suppose, for he shouted out, and I quickly dropped it. They immediately set to work to skin these creatures, and cutting them up, roasted them on sticks before the fire.
Its marble floors and walls of carved stone were not utterly obliterated though only owls and flying-foxes made it their dwelling-place. Natives regarded it with superstitious awe and seldom approached it. But Europeans all looked upon it as the most beautiful corner within reach, and had it been nearer to Kurrumpore, it would have been a far more frequented playground than it was.
They gave an almost incredible account of the enormous numbers of flying-foxes, all clustering round the branches of low trees, which drooped by the weight so near to the ground that the animals could easily be killed with endgels. The Seaforthia palm raised its elegant crown far above the patches of vine brush which we passed at the river side of the ridges.
They pressed on, therefore, past glades, obscure and gloomy, where the flying-foxes hung in branches from the trees, and the little striped squirrels leaped and scuttled from bough to bough, where the blue jays laughed with abandoned mirth and the parroquets squabbled unceasingly, and cunning monkey-faces peered forth, grimaced, and vanished. "This place is full of critics," declared Noel.
Their footsteps echoed weirdly, and instantly there ensued a wild commotion overhead of owls and flying-foxes. Olga started violently, and Noel looked upwards with a laugh that echoed and echoed in sinister repetition. "What a ghastly place!" whispered Olga, as it died away at last. The whisper was taken up and repeated from wall to wall till the further darkness swallowed it.
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