THE VIRGIN FOREST 



until they reach the ground, which they penetrate, when, gradually 

 increasing in girth, they themselves become stems, until the huge 

 horizontal roof of leaves rests on a whole forest of stems, although 

 the whole represents only one individual tree. In Ceylon I often 

 entered such a grove, and it was always some time before I could 

 convince myself that the whole represented a single tree. In Calcutta 

 there is a Banyan-tree with 562 root-stems, and it is related that on 

 one occasion an army of 5,000 soldiers encamped in the shadow 

 of a fig-tree. In Buenos Aires fig-trees have been planted in the 

 streets, and since the pavement made it impossible for the aerial 

 roots to enter the ground, the trees, with their wide-spread boughs, 

 are still standing unsupported, and the resulting roof of foliage, as 

 perfectly flat underneath as though trimmed with shears, presents 

 a most peculiar appearance. 



In the Argentine I have often admired the monumental character 

 of one of the native trees, the Ombu. The roots rise from the ground 

 like great brown bladders, lifting the trunk into the air, and from 

 the trunk the branches spring like a tracery, bending forwards and 

 then backwards, and often interlacing to form the crown. In August 

 the tree is leafless, when it looks more monumental than ever. 



Many of the tropical trees shed their leaves before decking them- 

 selves with blossom. Such, for example, is the habit of the Silk-cotton 

 trees. In Ceylon, where there are a hundred species of deciduous 

 trees, I gazed with admiration at the Silk-cotton tree, which had 

 just decked itself with its great glowing crimson flowers, while 

 amidst the billows of rosy blossoms the Ceylon starling was singing 

 its metallic and sonorous strophes — the tropical equivalent of the 

 blackbird singing in the blossoming cherry-tree. In Brazil there is 

 a species of Silk-cotton tree which when old has enormous board- 

 like roots, so that at the level of the ground the tree may have a 

 circumference of as much as a hundred feet, while in another 

 species the trunk falls away at the top like a turnip, and the thick 

 branches spring directly from the constricted neck. The heavy 

 appearance of this tree is enhanced by the large green seed-capsules 

 which hang from the leafless twigs, and which are lined inside with 

 a silky cotton (Fig. 8). 



Throughout the tropics the fruit often enhances the ornamental 

 character of the tree. In the case of the Mango-tree the mangoes 

 hang from their stalks as though suspended on strings, reminding 

 one of the apples and oranges on a Christmas-tree (Plate 22). 

 In the Jaboticaba, a myrtle-tree, even the trunk looks as though 



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