152 TJIE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. 



a class ; to forget, if possible, that they ever were one. Let 

 any allusion to the painful past be treated, not merely as an 

 offence against good manners, but as wliat it practically is, 

 an offence against tlie British Government ; and tliat Govern- 

 ment will find in them, I believe, loyal citizens and able 

 ser^^ants. 



But to L!0 back to the forest. I sauntered forth with cutlass 

 and collecting-box, careless whither I went, and careless of 

 what I saw ; for ever3^thing that I could see would be worth 

 seeincj. I know not that I found manv rare or new things 

 that day. I recollect, amid the endless variety of objects, 

 Film-ferns of various delicate s^^ecies, some growing in the 

 moss tree-trunks, some clasping the trunk itself by horizontal 

 lateral fronds, while the main rachis climbed straight up many 

 feet, thus embracing the stem in a network of semi-trans- 

 parent green Guipure lace. . I recollect, too, a coarse low fern^ 

 on stream-gravel which was remarkable, because its stem was 

 set with thick green prickles. I recollect, too, a dead giant 

 tree, the ruins of which struck me with awe. The stump 

 stood some thirty feet high, crumbling into tinder and dust, 

 though its death was so recent that the creepers and parasites 

 had not yet had time to lay hold of it ; and around its great 

 spur- roots lay what had been its trunk and head, piled in 

 stacks of rotten wood, over which I scrambled with some 



* Pteris podophyllp. 



