AND THE CONGO POREST 



199 



lOI. PATH THKOl'GH CONGO FOREST NKAIi LLTAXZULA S 



green. Fallen tree-trunks had been mined by termites and covered 

 with dank moss. Huge as these prone monsters looked, if one attempted 

 to sit down on them tliey crumbled into rottenness, and one risked being 

 stung liy great blue scorpions lurking in the crumbling wood.* 



* Sir Henry Stanley has given in his " Dai'kest Africa " a fine description of the 

 Seniliki Forest: "There were clumps of palms, giant ferns, wild bananas, and tall 

 stately trees all coated witli thick green moss from top to root ; impenetraltJe thickets 

 of broad-leaved plants ; and beads of moisture everywhere, besides tiny rillets oozing 

 out every few yards from under the matted tangle of vivid green and bedewed 

 undergrowth. It was the best specimen of a troi)ical conservatory I had ever seen. . . . 

 In every tree-fork and along the great horizontal l)ranches grew the loveliest ferns 

 and lichens, the 'ele])hant ear' hy the dozen, the orchids in close fellowship ; and the 

 bright green moss had formed soft circular cushions about them,. and on almost every 

 til)re there trembled a clear water-drop." 



