STORM AT NIGHT 23<) 



with scarcely an interval between them. All the time 

 there was a continuous roar of deafening thunder that 

 made the ground tremble beneath us. The rain came 

 down in torrents and the wind had increased to such a 

 gale that heavy branches were being blown off in every 

 direction, while now and again some old monarch of the 

 forest, unable to withstand the force of the storm, would 

 come down with a terrific crash. The men assembled in 

 the largest and strongest of the huts. All we could do 

 was to remain in one place and hope that no tree would 

 fall upon us. Old Maite was in a terrible fright. AVhen- 

 ever there was a lull in the storm which allowed his voice 

 to be heard he would tell us stories of the wicked spirits 

 who inhabit these mountains, and how they got angry 

 whenever men invaded their precincts. It would have 

 been folly to have tried to explain to this hardened 

 believer in gnomes and demons the phenomena of a 

 thunderstorm. How long this battle of the elements 

 lasted would be hard to say. Probably we exaggerated 

 its duration. The storm ceased almost as suddenly as it 

 had commenced. A few gusts weaker than the others 

 and the work of destruction was being carried on lower 

 down, the thunder dying away in the distance. When I 

 first explored the mountain I was struck by the size and 

 number of the branches strewn about the ground, but 

 after having witnessed one of these storms I found no 

 difficulty in accounting for this state of things. 



The rainfall at Amelia and in its immediate neighbour- 

 hood is, I should say, very much greater than that of the 

 surrounding country, and that i§ saying a great deal, 

 considering that in these equatorial forests the rainfall 

 is heavy. In fact, the vigorous vegetation existing over a 

 great part of tropical America depends for its luxuriance 



