3 88 ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. I 



ii. INTERIOR OF THE FOREST. 



The picture afforded by the interior of the rain-forest varies greatly 

 in individual cases. Many forests display a dense mass of foliage from the 

 ground up to the tops of the trees, through which we can only laboriously 

 cut our way with a bill-hook (Fig. 129); others are like immense, dark- 

 columned halls, which afford a free passage and a clear outlook in all 

 directions, where only a few ferns on the ground and on the stems of 

 the trees here and there relieve the monotony of brown tints. As a 

 matter of course these extreme forms are connected by intermediate ones. 



The dense rain-forest with abundant underwood appears, at least from 

 my own observation, to be the commoner of the two (Fig. 133). In all 

 my tropical expeditions I have seen extensive tracts covered by it. The 

 light column-forest I know in particular on the mountains of Dominica, 

 where it is chiefly formed by a species of Canarium ; the same in a less 

 pure form with many tree-ferns I know in Trinidad. Kurz describes 

 similar open forests in Pegu. There appears to be less variety among the 

 trees in it than in the closed forest. 



Within the forest, the botanist will at once endeavour to obtain a clear 

 idea of its systematic composition. As regards the large trees that 

 produce the general covering of the forest the labour is usually in vain. 

 Only felling the trees would secure the object in view, and to do this 

 is much more difficult than with us, for the trees are bound together by 

 a tangle of lianes. It does not moreover always lead to decisive results, 

 for not all trees are sufficiently characterized by their foliage, and many 

 of them blossom but seldom or do so only for a short period. I have 

 very rarely seen a useful result obtained by knocking down twigs. 



The cries of flocks of parrots will often denote trees with ripe berries, 

 and in particular fig-trees, and then a search on the ground usually leads 

 to the discovery of some fruits. Occasionally, the area of ground cor- 

 responding to the particular tree is pretty thickly covered with fruits that 

 have fallen or have been thrown down, for instance with berries of 

 Myrtaceae and Meliaceae, and the easily recognizable seeds of a Myristica. 

 In other cases corollas or petals are found. One must always remember 

 the possibility of such fruits and flowers coming from epiphytes or 

 lianes. No doubt indeed can arise regarding cauliflorous species ; they are 

 however quite exceptional, in particular among the tall trees. 



The bark of most trees shows much that is characteristic. In one case 

 it is smooth, in another furrowed ; in many Myrtaceae the bark peels off in 

 thin flakes or scales, in certain Leguminosae the surface is green ; in other 

 cases it is armed with thorns or with corky warts, or if it be wounded, 

 latex or resin exudes. Accurate investigation of such features would 

 certainly lead far towards identification. This is proved by the circum- 



