NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



65? 



these in turn from the surface life of 

 the ocean. Finally the air above the 

 jungle had to be taken into considera- 

 tion as being the principal haunt of 

 many forms of life, just as we have sea- 

 birds and flying fish and air-breathing 

 cetaceans in the case of the pelagic 

 simile. 



The ground in the jungle was covered 

 with the accumulated debris of cen- 

 turies, all the immense mass of vegeta- 

 tion which reared itself on high, falling 

 sooner or later, and returning to this 

 globigerina ooze of the dry land. 



In the low and mid-heights was found 

 the soft mist of green foliage of the 

 jungle undergrowth, springing from 

 thin, twig-like branches and supported 

 on marvelously slender stems. The 

 level of this undergrowth was between 

 5 and 70 ft., above which the tall, 

 straight trunks of the larger trees were 

 dominant, with no trace of branch of 

 leaf until the luxuriant crowns were 

 reached. 



As one walked through the jungle, 

 tinamou and partridges sprang up and 

 whirred away, agoutis and armadillos 

 scuttled from their feeding grounds. 

 Tracks of deer, tapir, paca and various 

 cats showed the movements of these 

 animals during the preceding night. 

 Grisons and, more rarely, small jungle 

 mice and rats were observed. On fallen 

 leaves tiny jungle frogs shrilled, and 

 giant marine toads live their sluggish 

 life. Salairanders and serpents were 

 rare. Once in a while a bushmaster, 

 fer-de-lance, or some harmless snake was 

 seen coiled or slowly slipping over the 

 leaves. Now and then a big yellow 

 turtle ploughed heavily along. All the 

 greater and lesser fry of the underworld 

 whose delight was in decayed wood, who 

 called the mold home, were here 

 strange grubs and beetles, scorpions, 

 myriapods, peripatus and all wingless, 

 creeping things. 



When I raised my eyes to the level 

 of the low jungle to my own height 

 an entirely new world appeared. That 

 of two dimensions was left behind and 

 one of three entered. Here began the 



domain of creatures of moderate flight 

 and of limited climbing ability, which, 

 unlike the tortoise and the tapir were 

 not bound to the ground. Here I was 

 always certain to find manakins of 

 several species, and antbirds of still 

 more. Here the trumpeters and jungle 

 wrens uttered their characteristic calls. 

 At night opossums wandered, while in 

 the twilight of mid-day, morphos those 

 bits of quintessent pigment flapped 

 leisurely along, together with their 

 opposites, the skeleton butterflies. 



The mid-jungle was the heart of the 

 tropical life. Here I could no longer 

 feel myself on equal terms in height. I 

 had most painfully to crane my neck 

 upward, and to study the inhabitants 

 of this suspended cosmos with glasses or 

 shotgun. Here the big curassows and 

 guans perched and nested, the great 

 pigeons, the motmots, jacamars, tro- 

 gons, goldbirds, and a host of tanagers 

 and flycatchers and strange tropic forms 

 chirped, sang, fed, courted, and nested. 

 In the mid-heights the big tree-frogs 

 boomed, and the sloths vegetated from 

 birth until the claws of a harpy eagle 

 gripped them. Squirrels were so rare 

 as to appear strange forms, known 

 chiefly from memory; marmosets and 

 coatis usurped their place by day, while 

 kinkajous climbed about by moon- 

 light. Orchids, air-plants and lianas 

 rioted, and unknown growths dropped 

 a myriad plummets, a warp of aerial 

 roots; threads until they reached the 

 ground, then becoming in turn twine, 

 cord, rope and cable. It was the great 

 center of life of the South American 

 jungles, a zone vibrating with a myriad 

 forms suspended half-way between 

 heaven and earth. Still it was a zone 

 with decidedly earthward tendencies. 

 Some of its inhabitants descended to 

 sleep, others to feed or to build their 

 homes. The majority, however, re- 

 mained throughout their lives as they 

 were born, plankton of the jungle. 



Yet another continent of life remains 

 to be discovered, not upon the earth, 

 but 100 to 200 ft. above it, extending 

 over thousands of sq. mi. of South 



