TROPICAL VEGETATION AT SANTOS, 307 



It was clear that on the slopes about Santos the native 

 forests had been cleared, but on all the steeper parts, 

 not reclaimed for cultivation, the indigenous vegeta- 

 tion had resumed the mastery. Trees and shrubs in 

 wonderful variety contended for the mastery, and 

 maintained, as they best could, a precarious struggle 

 for existence with a crowd of climbers and parasites. 

 So dense was the mass of vegetation that it was 

 impossible to penetrate in any direction farther than 

 a few yards, and there was no choice but to follow the 

 track that led to the summit of the slope, on which 

 stood a pretty house with an adjoining coffee-planta- 

 tion. Among the many new forms of vegetation here 

 seen, the most singular was that of the Tillandsia* 

 Long, whitish, smooth cords hang from the branches 

 of the taller trees, and at eight or ten feet from the 

 ground abruptly produce a rosette of stiff leaves, like 

 those of a miniature pineapple, with a central spike 

 of flowers. But the most brilliant ornament of this 

 season was a species of trumpet-flower {Bignoiiia 

 venusta, Ker = Pyrostegia ignea, Presl), which, partly 

 supporting itself, and partly climbing over the shrubs 

 and small trees, covered them with dense masses of 

 brilliant orange or flame-coloured flowers. 



Laden with specimens, I returned to the town just 

 in time for the afternoon train to San Paulo. The 

 railway was constructed by an English company, and 

 is so far remarkable that a somewhat difficult problem 

 has been solved in an efficient and probably economical 

 fashion. The object is, within a distance of a few 



* The species common here is allied to T. stricta^ but is not, I think, 

 identical. 



