Cuap. II. A TROPICAL FOREST. 23 
we passed by. Cassia trees, with their elegant pinnate foliage and con- 
spicuous yellow flowers, formed a great proportion of the lower trees, 
and arborescent arums grew in groups around the swampy hollows. 
Over the whole fluttered a larger number of brilliantly coloured butter- 
flies than we had yet seen ; some wholly orange or yellow (Callidryas), 
others with excessively elongated wings, sailing horizontally through the 
air, coloured black, and varied with blue, red and yellow (Heliconii). 
One magnificent grassy-green species (Colzenis Dido) especially attracted 
our attention. Near the ground hovered many other smaller species, 
very similar in appearance to those found at home, attracted by the 
flowers of numerous leguminous and other shrubs. Besides butterflies, 
there were few other insects except dragonflies, which were in great 
numbers, similar in shape to English species, but some of them looking 
conspicuously different on account of their fiery red colours. 
After stopping repeatedly to examine and admire, we at length walked 
onward. The road then ascended slightly, and the scil and vegetation 
became suddenly altered in character. The shrubs here were grasses, 
Cyperaceze and other plants, smailer in foliage than those growing in 
moist grounds. The forest was second growth, low, consisting of trees 
which had the general aspect of laurels and other evergreens in 
our gardens at home: the leaves glossy and dark green. Some of them 
were elegantly veined and hairy (Melastome), whilst many, scattered 
amongst the rest, had smaller foliage (Myrtles), but these were not 
sufficient to subtract much from the general character of the whole. 
The sun, now—for we had loitered long on the road—was exceedingly 
powerful. The day was most brilliant; the sky without a cloud. In 
fact, it was one of those glorious days which announce the commence- 
ment of the dry season. ‘The radiation of heat from the sandy ground 
was visible by the quivering motion of the air above it. We saw or 
heard no mammals or birds ; a few cattle belonging to an estate down a 
shady lane were congregated, panting, under a cluster of wide-spreading 
trees. The very soil was hot to our feet, and we hastened onward to 
the shade of the forest, which we could see not far ahead. At length, 
on entering it, whata relief! We found ourselves in a moderately broad 
pathway or alley, where the branches of the trees crossed overhead and 
produced a delightful shade. The woods were at first of second growth, 
dense, and utterly impenetrable; the ground, instead of being clothed 
with grass and shrubs, as in the woods of Europe, was everywhere 
carpeted with Lycopodiums (Selaginellz). Gradually the scene became 
changed. We descended slightly from an elevated, dry and sandy area 
to a low and swampy one; a cool air breathed on our faces, and a 
mouldy smell of rotting vegetation greeted us. The trees were now taller, 
the underwood less dense, and we could obtain glimpses into the 
wilderness on all sides. 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 the Mimosz. Below, the tree trunks were everywhere linked 
