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these magnificent trees remain in their undisturbed 

 soHtudes, gradually increasing in their endless 

 growth, and towering above the dark vistas of 

 everlasting silence. 



No one can imagine the utter stillness which 

 reigns in these depths. In the shades of the forest 

 I have often stood and listened for some sound, 

 but always in vain ; not a chirp of a bird, nor the 

 hum of an insect is heard. The mouth of nature 

 is sealed. The perpetual verdure and the freshness 

 of each tree create an idea of eternal vegetation, 

 and the silvery dim light adds to the charm of 

 the enchanted loneliness. Creepers of the thick- 

 ness of a man's thigh lie snakelike along the 

 ground, and then rearing their twisted forms on 

 high, climb the loftiest trees, and hang in 

 festoons from stem to stem, like the cables of an 

 old-time battleship. Each festoon extends from 

 tree to tree for many hundred yards ; now falling 

 to the earth and striking a fresh root, then with 

 increased energy remounting the highest trunks 

 and forming a labyrinth of twisted webbing 

 among the ceiling of the forest. 



A curious and little-known animal inhabits 

 these dusky silences. The natives call him 

 the Intallaganya, a long crack-jaw name pho- 

 netically spelt. I have never met a man who 

 has seen a specimen alive, much less who 

 has shot one, though the species seems to exist 

 in fair quantities, if one may judge by the 



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