There were 'too much jumbies' here; and when one of the party expressed a wish to lie out there some night, in the hope of good shooting, the Negro shook his head.

He would 'not do that for all the world.

De debbil come out here at night, and walk about;' and he was much scandalised when the young gentleman rejoined that the chance of such a sight would be an additional reason for bivouacking there.
So we walked out upon the mud, which was mostly hard enough, past shallow pools of brackish water, smelling of asphalt, toward a group of little mud-volcanoes on the farther side.

These curious openings into the nether-world are not permanent.

They choke up after a while, and fresh ones appear in another part of the area, thus keeping the whole clear of plants.
They are each some two or three feet high, of the very finest mud, which leaves no feeling of grit on the fingers or tongue, and dries, of course, rapidly in the sun.