HIGH LIFE. 



"5 



be not most, but least, conspicuous in the matter of very hand- 

 some flowers. 



Now, the struggle for life is fiercest, and the wealth of Nature is 

 greatest, one need hardly say, in tropical climates. There alone 

 do we find every inch of soil " encumbered by its waste fertility," 

 as Comus puts it ; weighed down by luxuriant growth of tree, 

 shrub, herb, creeper. There alone do lizards lurk in every hole ; 

 beetles dwell manifold in every cranny ; butterflies flock thick in 

 every grove ; bees, ants, and flies swarm by myriads on every sun- 

 smitten hillside. Accordingly, in the tropics, adaptation reaches 

 its highest point ; and tangled richness, not beauty of color, be- 

 comes the dominant note of the equatorial forests. Now and then, 

 to be sure, as you wander through Brazilian or Malayan woods, 

 you may light upon some bright tree clad in scarlet bloom, or 

 some glorious orchid drooping pendent from a bough with long 

 sprays of beauty; but such sights are infrequent. Green, and 

 green, and ever green again — that is the general feeling of the 

 equatorial forest ; as different as possible from the rich mosaic of 

 a high alp in early June, or a Scotch hillside deep in golden gorse 

 and purple heather in broad August sunshine. 



In very cold countries, on the other hand, though the condi- 

 tions are severe, the struggle for existence is not really so hard, 

 because, in one word, there are fewer competitors. The field is 

 less occupied ; life is less rich, less varied, less self-strangling. 

 And, therefore, specialization has not gone nearly so far in cold 

 latitudes or altitudes. Lower and simpler types everywhere oc- 

 cupy the soil ; mosses, matted flowers, small beetles, dwarf butter- 

 flies. Nature is less luxuriant, yet in some ways more beautiful. 

 As we rise on the mountains the forest trees disappear, and with 

 them the forest beasts, from bears to squirrels ; a low, wind-swept 

 vegetation succeeds, very poor in species, and stunted in growth, 

 but making a floor of rich flowers almost unknown elsewhere. 

 The humble butterflies and beetles of the chillier elevation pro- 

 duce in the result more beautiful bloom than the highly developed 

 honey-seekers of the richer and warmer lowlands. Luxuriance is 

 atoned for by a Turkey carpet of floral magnificence. 



How, then, has the world at large fallen into the pardonable 

 error of believing tropical nature to be so rich in coloring, and 

 circumpolar nature to be so dingy and unlovable ? Simply thus, 

 I believe. The tropics embrace the largest land areas in the world, 

 and are richer by a thousand times in species of plants and ani- 

 mals than all the rest of the earth in a lump put together. That 

 richness necessarily results from the fierceness of the competition. 

 Now, among this enormous mass of tropical plants it naturally 

 happens that some have finer flowers than any temperate species ; 

 while as to the animals and birds, they are undoubtedly, on the 



