MONOTONY OF TROPICAL VEGETATION. 67 



the highest tree-tops. Orchids, bromelias, arums, and 

 ferns grow from every boss and crevice, and cover the 

 fallen and decaying trunks with a graceful drapery. 

 Even these parasites have their own parasitical growth, 

 their leaves often supporting an abundance of minute 

 creeping mosses and hepaticae. But the uniformity of 

 climate which has led to this rich luxuriance and 

 endless variety of vegetation is also the cause of a 

 monotony that in time becomes oppressive. To quote 

 the words of Mr. Belt : " Unknown are the autumn 

 tints, the bright browns and yellows of English woods ; 

 much less the crimsons, purples, and yellows of Canada, 

 where the dying foliage rivals, nay, excels, the expiring 

 dolphin in splendour. Unknown the cold sleep of 

 winter ; unknown the lovely awakening of vegetation at 

 the first gentle touch of spring. A ceaseless round of 

 ever-active life weaves the fairest scenery of the tropics 

 into one monotonous whole, of which the component parts 

 exhibit in detail untold variety and beauty." 1 



To the student of nature the vegetation of the tropics 

 will ever be of surpassing interest, whether for the 

 variety of forms and structures which it presents, for 

 the boundless energy with which the life of plants is 

 therein manifested, or for the help which it gives us in 

 our search after the laws which have determined the 

 production of such infinitely varied organisms. When, 

 for the first time, the traveller wanders in these primeval 

 forests, he can scarcely fail to experience sensations of 

 awe, akin to those excited by the trackless ocean or the 

 alpine snowfields. There is a vastness, a solemnity, a 

 gloom, a sense of solitude and of human insignificance 



1 The Naturalist in Nicaragua,, p. 58. 



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