ROBBERY AND MURDER. 231 



the forest is no exceptional phenomenon. It is 

 only more conspicuously exhibited, owing perhaps 

 to its affecting principally the vegetative organs 

 — root, stem, and leaf — whose growth is also stimu- 

 lated by the intense light, the warmth, and the 

 humidity." 



Numerous accounts of the conditions of growth 

 in tropical forests, all penned by able and observant 

 naturalists, exist in our literature ; and it is curious 

 to see how little they vary, notwithstanding the 

 strong individualities of the writers. Dr. A. R. 

 Wallace {Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro^ 

 says : " At about two miles from the city we entered 

 the virgin forest, which the increased height of the 

 "trees and the deeper shade had some time told us 

 we were approaching. Its striking characteristics 

 were the great number and variety of the forest- 

 trees, their trunks rising frequently for 60 or 80 

 feet without a branch, and perfectly straight ; the 

 huge creepers which climb about them, sometimes 

 stretched obliquely from their summits like the stays 

 of a mast, sometimes winding around their trunks 

 like immense serpents waiting for their prey. Here, 

 two or three together, twisting spirally round each 

 other, as if to bind securely these monarchs of the 

 forest ; there, they form tangled festoons, and, 

 covered themselves with small creepers and parasitic 

 plants, hide the parent stem from sight." 



Mr. Bates {The Naturalist on the River Amazons) 



