232 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



describes almost his first impressions of the forest 

 scenery in the same region as follows : " The leafy 

 crowns of the trees, scarcely two of which could be 

 seen together of the same kind, were now far away 

 above us — in another world, as it were. We could 

 only see at times, where there was a break above, 

 the tracery of the foliage against the clear blue sky. 

 Sometimes the leaves were palmate, or of the shape 

 of large outstretched hands ; at others, finely cut or 

 feathery like the leaves of Mimosae. Below, the 

 tree -trunks were everywhere linked together by 

 Sipos ; the woody, flexible stems of climbing and 

 creeping trees, whose foliage is far away above, 

 mingled with that of the taller independent trees. 

 Some were twisted in strands like cables ; others 

 had thick stems contorted in every variety of shape, 

 entwining snake -like round the tree -trunks or 

 forming gigantic loops and coils among the larger 

 branches ; others, again, were of zigzag shape, or 

 indented like the steps of a staircase, sweeping from 

 the ground to a giddy height. 



" It interested me much afterwards to find that 

 these climbing trees do not form any particular 

 family or genus. There is no order of plants whose 

 especial habit is to climb ; but species of many — and 

 the most diverse families, the bulk of whose members 

 are not climbers — seem to have been driven by cir- 

 cumstances to adopt this habit." 



Lastly, Mr. P. H. Gosse, thus gives his experience 



