Chap. I. EVENING CHORUS OF ANIMALS. 9 



shape of the leaves, the varying shades of gi'een 

 which they present when lightly moved by the wind, 

 and especially the contrast they afford in colour and 

 form to the more sombre hues and more rounded out- 

 line of the other trees, are quite sufficient to account for 

 the charm of this glorious tree. Strange forms of 

 vegetation drew our attention at almost every step. 

 Amongst them were the different kinds of Bromelia, or 

 pine-apple plants, with their long, rigid, sword-shaped 

 leaves, in some species jagged or toothed along their 

 edges. Then there was the bread-fruit tree — an impor- 

 tation, it is true ; but remarkable from its large, 

 glossy, dark green, strongly digitated foliage, and its 

 interesting history. Many other trees and plants, 

 curious in leaf, stem, or manner of growth, grew on 

 the borders of the thickets along which lay our road ; 

 they were all attractive to new comers, whose last 

 country ramble of quite recent date was over the 

 bleak moors of Derbyshire on a sleety morning in 

 April. 



As we continued our walk the brief twilight com- 

 menced, and the sounds of multifarious life came from 

 the vegetation around. The whirring of cicadas ; the 

 shrill stridulation of a vast number and variety of field 

 crickets and grasshoppers, — each species sounding its 

 peculiar note ; the plaintive hooting of tree frogs — all 

 blended together in one continuous ringing sound, — the 

 audible expression of the teeming profusion of Nature. 

 As night came on, many species of frogs and toads in 

 the marshy places joined in the chorus : their croaking 

 and drumming, far louder than anything I had before 



