Post by nomad on Nov 14, 2014 11:01:17 GMT -8
A frail looking middle aged women, net in hand, climbs up into the mountains from a native coastal village on a Pacific Island to rendezvous with her guide. It is very hot and humid, even here on the ridge and her native guide fails to appear. She does not turn back but goes on alone. This is no ordinary woman and in spite of her slight appearance, she is a tough, fit and fiercely determined insect collector who would put many of her male contemporaries in the shade. She began her day's insect collecting by following a spur of the ridge and with her machete has to open up a tunnel in the dense close vegetation. Entering a clearing there was much to enjoy ; there were birds calling all around and a brown kingfisher with a pale throat sat on a branch within touching distance. She watched the butterflies and other insects well out of reach in the canopy visiting forest flowers. The spur suddenly came to an end just past where several others radiated from one center. Already the sun was low in the sky. Returning along one spur to regain the main mountain ridge she came to a short cliff and could not remember climbing it on her outward journey, she thought she had followed the wrong spur. Her compass took her back along to the same obstacle. Returning to the center of where the different spurs met, even this little lady, tough as old boots, who was on her first of many solo expeditions, for a short time panicked and she shot along examining each of the spurs in turn for a way out but she found none. Then sitting down panting, a calm came over her. For those that have never been lost in the jungle or mountains its hard to know the sensation it causes, especially when there are steep precipices on all sides. I know the feeling well, not being lost in mountains in Pacific jungles but on two occasions on remote Scottish mountains in dense mist and a whiteout where a fall over the surrounding cliffs will achieve exactly the same end.
This remarkable lady then climbed a tree to see where she was, but it was too low, she then climbed an even higher one and saw from the topmost branches the sea far below. Far from from reassuring her, the view also showed many more spurs and ridges. She decided to follow a stream downwards towards the distant coast . The descent of the stream soon became steeper and steeper and she clung to roots of tough little bushes, then suddenly there was a huge void, but peering over there was a basin of rock with a deep pool, there seemed no way back only forward and as she lowered herself by a climbing pandanus, she slipped and fell, landing into the deep pool and injuring her back and skinning her elbows. As she scrambled out of the water the sun went down and it was almost instantly pitch black. Lowering herself on all fours very slowly on this steep slope in the dark she came to a group of trees. Here a trunk had fallen length ways. By chance it was a deep invaginated trunk and laying in there sleep proved unattainable. It was a long night and her wet cloths chilled her to the bone. Sleepless and shivering she went over the events of the day, now she knew that she has originally returned along the right trail but had missed the short cliff earlier in the day cutting through the dense vegetation and had not recognized the same spur later. The fall into the pool had been her rubicon and there was now no turning back. Daylight revealed her true predicament, she was perched on an almost vertical slope with ended in cascades of waterfalls. She edged and slid her way down from bush to the next distant bush. Descending the waterfalls was a nightmare, sometimes she was held up completely and recklessness set in. The beautiful orchids around her seem to mock her in her life and death struggle. Often holding on by her fingers tips, after five hours she reached the bottom. Reaching vegetable gardens she limped back to the chief's house who had prepared a great feast that previous night in her honour which she failed to attend. The chief was most put out that she did not show up, but seemed highly amused by the reason, she was clinging to the precipice above all night, beyond and out of sight.
A day in the life of one of the greatest all round Entomologists that ever lived . I expect some here will know who she is?
Next a discussion of her many entomological discoveries and a link to a really excellent profile video and her time line.
This remarkable lady then climbed a tree to see where she was, but it was too low, she then climbed an even higher one and saw from the topmost branches the sea far below. Far from from reassuring her, the view also showed many more spurs and ridges. She decided to follow a stream downwards towards the distant coast . The descent of the stream soon became steeper and steeper and she clung to roots of tough little bushes, then suddenly there was a huge void, but peering over there was a basin of rock with a deep pool, there seemed no way back only forward and as she lowered herself by a climbing pandanus, she slipped and fell, landing into the deep pool and injuring her back and skinning her elbows. As she scrambled out of the water the sun went down and it was almost instantly pitch black. Lowering herself on all fours very slowly on this steep slope in the dark she came to a group of trees. Here a trunk had fallen length ways. By chance it was a deep invaginated trunk and laying in there sleep proved unattainable. It was a long night and her wet cloths chilled her to the bone. Sleepless and shivering she went over the events of the day, now she knew that she has originally returned along the right trail but had missed the short cliff earlier in the day cutting through the dense vegetation and had not recognized the same spur later. The fall into the pool had been her rubicon and there was now no turning back. Daylight revealed her true predicament, she was perched on an almost vertical slope with ended in cascades of waterfalls. She edged and slid her way down from bush to the next distant bush. Descending the waterfalls was a nightmare, sometimes she was held up completely and recklessness set in. The beautiful orchids around her seem to mock her in her life and death struggle. Often holding on by her fingers tips, after five hours she reached the bottom. Reaching vegetable gardens she limped back to the chief's house who had prepared a great feast that previous night in her honour which she failed to attend. The chief was most put out that she did not show up, but seemed highly amused by the reason, she was clinging to the precipice above all night, beyond and out of sight.
A day in the life of one of the greatest all round Entomologists that ever lived . I expect some here will know who she is?
Next a discussion of her many entomological discoveries and a link to a really excellent profile video and her time line.