230 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



oak ! what more charming than the aspect of banana-groves, 

 shaded by those lofty grasses, the Guadua and Bamboo! It is 

 peculiarly the privilege of the artist to separate these into 

 groups, and thus the beautiful images of nature, if we may 

 be permitted the simile, resolve themselves beneath his 

 touch, like the written works of man, into a few simple 

 elements. 



It is beneath the glowing rays of a tropical sun, that the 

 noblest forms of vegetation are developed. In the cold North 

 the bark of trees is covered only with dry lichens and mosses, 

 while beneath the tropics the Cymbidium and the fragrant 

 Vanilla adorn the trunks of the Anacardias and the gigantic 

 Fig-tree. The fresh green of the Pothos leaves and of the 

 Dracontias contrast with the many coloured blossoms of the 

 Orchideae; climbing Bauhinias, Passion-flowers and golden 

 flowered Banisterias encircle every tree of the forest. Deli- 

 cate blossoms unfold themselves from the roots of the Tlieo- 

 broma, and from the thick and rough bark of the Crescentia 

 and Gustavia (35). Amid this luxuriant abundance of flowers 

 and foliage, amid this exuberance and tangled web of creeping 

 plants, it is often difficult for the naturalist to recognise the 

 stems to w T hich the various leaves and blossoms belong. A 

 single tree, adorned with Paullinias, Bignonias, and Dendro- 

 bias, forms a group of plants, which, separated from each 

 other, would cover a considerable space of ground. 



In the tropics, plants are more succulent, of a fresher 

 green, and have larger and more glossy leaves, than in the 

 northern regions. Social plants, which give such a character 

 of uniformity to European vegetation, are almost wholly 

 absent in the equatorial zone. Trees, almost twice as high 

 as our oaks, there bloom with flowers as large and splendid 

 as our lilies. On the shady banks of the Magdalena River, 

 in South America, grows a climbing Aristolochia, whose 

 blossoms, measuring four ft-et in circumference, the Indian 

 children sportively draw on their heads as caps (36). In 



