50 ~ PARA. Chap. II. 



Many of the woody lianas suspended from trees are 

 not climbers but the air-roots of epiphytous plants 

 (Aroidese), which sit on the stronger boughs of the trees 

 above, and hang down straight as plumb-lines. Some 

 are suspended singly, others in leashes ; some reach 

 halfway to the ground and others touch it, striking 

 their rootlets into the earth. The underwood in this 

 part of the forest was composed partly of younger trees 

 of the same species as their taller neighbours, and partly 

 of palms of many species, some of them twenty to thirty 

 feet in height, others small and delicate, with stems no 

 thicker than a finger. These latter (different kinds of 

 Bactris) bore small bunches of fruit, red or black, often 

 containing a sweet grape-like juice. 



Further on the ground became more swampy, and 

 we had some difficulty in picking our way. The wild 

 banana (Urania Amazonica) here began to appear, and, 

 as it grew in masses, imparted a new aspect to the 

 scene. The leaves of this beautiful plant are like broad 

 sword-blades, eiffht feet in lenoi^h and a foot broad ; 

 they rise straight upwards, alternately, from the top of 

 a stem five or six feet high. Numerous kinds of plants 

 with leaves similar in shape to these but smaller, clothed 

 the ground. Amongst them were species of Marantacese, 

 some of which had broad glossy leaves, with long leaf- 

 stalks radiating from joints in a reed-like stem. The 

 trunks of the trees were clothed with climbing ferns, and 

 Pothos plants with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. 

 Bamboos and other tall gi'ass and reed-like plants 

 arched over the pathway. The appearance of this part 

 of the forest was strange in the extreme ; description 



