196 JUNGLE PEACE 



Trail behind Kalacoon stood four sentinel trees. 

 Every day we passed and repassed them on the 

 way to and from the jungle. For many days 

 we paid very little attention to them, except to 

 be grateful for the shade cast by their dense 

 foliage of glossy leaves. Their trunks were their 

 most striking feature, the bark almost concealed 

 by a maze of beautifully colored lichens, differ- 

 ent forms overlapping one another in many 

 places, forming a palimpsest of gray, white, pink, 

 mauve and lilac. One day a streaked flycatcher 

 chose the top of a branch for her nest, and 

 this we watched and photographed and robbed 

 for science' sake, and again we thought no more 

 of the four trees. 



Late in April, however, a change came over 

 the trees. The leaves had been shed some time 

 in January and the fallen foliage formed a dry 

 mass on the ground which crackled under foot. 

 Now each branch and twig began to send out 

 clusters of small buds, and one day, a week 

 after Easter, these burst into indescribable 

 glory. Every lichened bough and branch and 

 twig was lined with a soft mass of bloom, clear, 

 bright cerise, which reflected its brilliance on the 

 foliage itself. After two days a rain of stamens 



