72 NATURAL SCIENCE. July. 



subject of the picture, the dense tangle of the forest, a clump of palms, 

 or the Victoria regia, with its broad tray-like leaves quite hiding the 

 surface of the water. 



Along the coast is a fringe of alluvium so fertile that alternation 

 of crops is unknown, sugar-canes growing year after year in the same 

 soil with hardly any deterioration. Plantains, Indian corn, yams, 

 sweet potatoes, and a host of fruits ripen all the year round ; at 

 present hardly a tenth of this is under cultivation. Behind lie 

 swamps choked with tall sedges, with here and there an island 

 of sand on which a few trees and bushes manage to exist, or 

 wherever the land begins to rise, grand clumps of the magnificent 

 Eta palm {Mauritia fiexiwsa). Then come the sand-reefs, the white 

 beach of ages long ago. Miles and miles of pure sand, washed 

 clean as driven snow, dazzle the eyes in the glare of the noonday 

 sun. Behind the reefs the flatness of the coast gives place to an 

 undulating country, gradually rising to hills, and then mountains, 

 and clothed for its greater portion with primeval forest — 

 part of the wilderness of teeming vegetation which covers most 

 of tropical South America. This wilderness abounds with riches. 

 There is gold in the river beds, the working of which increases 

 every year ; but of incalculably greater value is the timber in the 

 forest. For piles, wharves, and other structures more or less 

 immersed in water, greenheart timber, says the writer, is 

 perhaps the very best in the world. It is also classed with teak and 

 oak by "Lloyd's" as the most suitable for ship-building. Mora is 

 another first-rate timber for house-frames and ship-building, and 

 although not so lasting as greenheart, " better even than oak for all 

 purposes to which that excellent wood is applied." Wallaba is 

 a very useful wood, as it is easily split into shingles and paling 

 staves, and is far more durable than oak for the large vats 

 necessary for water storage. Among the hundreds of varieties 

 of woods found in the colony are some of the hardest and 

 heaviest in the world, as well as others that are light. They 

 vary, too, in colour from nearly black through the various 

 shades of brown to almost pure white. Where the forests 

 are broken are the savannahs, a paradise to the botanists, especially 

 in the mountain region. Among foaming rivulets, running through 

 banks of ferns and mosses, grow some of the most beautiful iiowering 

 plants — orchids, utricularias, droseras, and a hundred others — in the 

 wildest profusion. 



" The climate of the colony is on the whole a very pleasant 

 one." The variations of the thermometer are but slight, gene- 

 rally from 76° — 86° F., while on the coast the sea breeze tempers 

 the greatest heat, and the heavy rains cool the earth and 

 cause so luxuriant a vegetation that an arid tropical appearance 

 is hardly ever present. Sometimes, however, a protracted dry 

 season brings a drought. Destructive earthquakes and hurri- 

 canes are not experienced, while accidents from lightning are 

 said to be almost unknown. Besides large areas on the coast, 

 thousands of square miles of fertile river bottoms and valleys in 

 the interior await cultivation. The great difficulty is the ever-present 

 labour question. The emancipation of the slaves caused the ruin of 

 many estate owners, and led to the plantations being abandoned, the 

 negroes refusing to work at all except for wages which, with the low 

 price of sugar, the staple product, no one could afford. Labour is 

 now obtained by immigration from East India and China, but the 



