126 JUNGLE PEACE 



grove which, here and there, creeps out along- 

 side it. 



The pimpler bears thorns of the first magni- 

 tude, often double, recurved and at such dia- 

 bolically unexpected places, that like barbed 

 wire, it is impossible to grasp anywhere without 

 drawing blood. Such a chevaux-de-frise would 

 defend a trench against the most courageous 

 regiment. The stems were light gray, green- 

 ing toward the younger shoots, and the foliage 

 was pleasantly divided into double lines of 

 locust-like leaflets. 



The plants were in full flower, dainty, up- 

 right panicles of wisteria-like pea-blooms, pale 

 violet and white with tiny buds of magenta. A 

 faint, subdued perfume drifted from them 

 through the tangle of branches. The fruit was 

 ripening on many plants, in clusters of green, 

 semi-circular, flat, kidney pods. The low 

 branches stretched gracefully waterwards in 

 long sweeping curves. On these at a fork or 

 at the crossing of two distinct branches, the 

 hoatzins placed their nests, and with the soft- 

 tissued leaflets they packed their capacious crops 

 and fed their young. 



Besides these two plants, which alone may 



