58 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. IV. 



and strong, and universally used instead of cordage by the 

 natives. Amongst the undergrowth several small species 

 of palms, varying in height from two to fifteen feet, are 

 common ; and now and then magnificent tree ferns, sending 

 off their feathery crowns twenty feet from the ground, de- 

 liaht the sisjlit with their Graceful elegance. Great broad- 



CO O O 



leaved heliconia3, leathery melastoma3, and succulent- 

 stemmed, lop-sided leaved, and flesh-coloured begonias 

 are abundant, and typical of tropical American forests ; 

 but not less so are the cecropia trees, with their white 



j. ' 



stems and large palmatcd leaves standing up like 

 great candelabra. Sometimes the ground is carpeted 

 with large flowers, yellow, pink, or white, that have 

 fallen from some invisible tree-top above, or the air is 

 filled with a delicious perfume, the source of which one 

 seeks around in vain, for the flowers that cause it are 

 far overhead out of sight, lost in the great overshadowing 

 crown of verdure. Numerous babbling brooks intersect 

 the forest, with moss-covered stones and fern-clad nooks. 

 One's thoughts are led away to the green dells in English 

 denes, but are soon recalled ; for the sparkling pools are 

 the favourite haunts of the fairy humming-birds ; like an 

 arrow, one will dart up the brook, and poised on wings 

 moving with almost invisible velocity, clothed in purple* 

 golden, or emerald glory, hang suspended in the air; 

 it is seen gazing with startled look at the intruder, then 

 with a sudden jerk, turning round first one eye, then the 

 other, it disappears like a flash of light. 



Unlike the plains and savannahs we crossed yesterday, 

 where the ground was parched up in the dry season, the 

 Atlantic forest, bathed in the rains distilled from the 

 north- east trades, is ever verdant. Perennial moisture 



