52 JUNGLE ISLAND 



few that sheds all its leaves at once in the dry 

 season, is nearly as light as cork. A log of it can 

 be used as a canoe without hollowing out. 



Down at the foot of my tree hardly a breath of 

 air stirred all day long. For a whole week a 

 thermometer hung there showed that the tem- 

 perature did not rise or fall more than three 

 degrees. Almost no water evaporated there. 



This was true even when the wind was roaring 

 past me at the top of my spike ladder. Up above 

 the jungle roof the thermometer rose and fell 

 twenty -five degrees in a day, and water evaporated 

 three times as fast as it did below. 



Above the jungle roof the wind and the sunlight 

 were more free, since there were not so many 

 branches to catch them and hold them back. 

 On the ground I could not take snapshots even 

 with a fast lens and special films, but up above 

 I could take the pictures of the jungle roof shown 

 here with an ordinary kodak. 



Living at the foot of the tree was much like 

 staying in a well-regulated greenhouse, with the 

 same damp warmth day in and day out; but 

 plants and animals up in the tree tops had a 

 much more adventurous and changing life. Some- 

 times they might be warm and sometimes cold. 

 The sun and wind would dry them out, or a 

 sudden rain drench them. It is almost Hke living 

 in another country for them. The Hght was over 

 four hundred times brighter than on the ground. 



