JSfATURE'S TRIUMPH. 459 



girls in tlie house, there will probably be a few drac^enas, cro- 

 tons, or perhaps a hibiscus planted beside the path from the 

 river. 



Immediately behind is the forest, reaching out its hands, as it 

 were, to embrace the little half -clearing. Whiplike extensions of 

 scrambling vines stretch over the fruit trees and bring one after 

 another under their canopy. The occupier of this little paradise 

 sees little of what is going on and cares less. Like the Indian, he 

 considers weeding a part of the woman's duties, while the Creole 

 woman has very loose ideas on this matter. If there are children, 

 they crave for fruit, and are disappointed when none is to be ob- 

 t^ned ; but even if they knew the reason they could hardly be 

 expected to do anything. The man at last begins to see how the 

 jungle is advancing, and looks on helplessly. To fight with such 

 a tangle is too hard for the man of the tropics ; he would rather 

 make a fresh clearing. At last the house is surrounded and the 

 creepers run over the thatch. Probably the uprights have already 

 been attacked by wood ants and threaten to give way. A new 

 house must be built, and this can be done better on a fresh clear- 

 ing ; so the place is abandoned, and Nature again triumphs. A 

 few months later and the landing is choked, the house fallen, and 

 the jungle impenetrable. 



The plantations before mentioned belonged to the upper dis- 

 tricts, and were abandoned a century or more ago. There have 

 been, however, many large estates near the mouths of the rivers 

 and along the coasts given up during the last fifty years. No mat- 

 ter how large the clearing, if it is in the forest region, it must ulti- 

 mately be obliterated. Here and there a brick chimney is seen 

 peeping above the level of the forest, but otherwise there is not 

 the slightest appearance from outside that this was once a flour- 

 ishing sugar plantation. Examine it carefully, however, and you 

 will find what at first sight appeared to be virgin forest only 

 "second growth." This consists of fast-growing, soft- wooded 

 trees, which in the struggle for life have outstripped the more 

 hard timber trees of the forest proper. 



Cut a way through the dense jungle on the river side, and if 

 you are a skillful bushman the site of the house and buildings 

 may be found. Above everything else stands the brick chimney, 

 but what a transformation ! It is so covered with wild fig roots 

 as to be almost indistinguishable, while the top is decorated with 

 an immense bush which will ultimately develop into a tree. 

 Around the base of the shaft the remains of boilers and other iron- 

 work have colored the soil, and among these may be seen broken 

 bricks, slates, and glass. Look round carefully, and perhaps you 

 may find the family burying place. Here are tombs with marble 

 slabs, cracked and broken by the slow but powerful leverage of 



