284 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



pend from limbs and sway in the currents of air. 

 Orchids cling. All small dead twigs are muffled tightly 

 in vivid moss. On the slopes of the canons and the 

 heads of ravines are little forests of tree ferns, feathery 

 and beautiful. These run to thirty feet in height. 



Everything is dripping wet. Indeed the strongest 

 single impression that remains to me of that forest is 

 that it was a varnished forest; every leaf, every branch, 

 every smooth surface shines polished. Always in the 

 ear is a slow and solemn dripping. 



When one, with difficulty, forces himself ten feet 

 from the track, he knows not where he can go next. 

 Were it not for elephant tracks he could not get about 

 at aU. Old tembo makes nothing of what to his little 

 enemy is an impenetrable jungle. When he wants to 

 go anywhere, he goes; and he pushes aside trees as we 

 push aside blades of grass. Nothing inspires more awe 

 and respect for these animals than, first, these paths 

 broken through the jungle; and, second, the sight of the 

 great beasts themselves, calmly, ruthlessly, without 

 hurry, without effort, bursting the barrier of the forest. 



Another impression of the unique character of this 

 forest for two days eluded my analysis. I felt that 

 here was something strange and unusual, but I could 

 not seize it. It made its impress, and yet it eluded; 

 and in the end it haunted me, worried me, as the for- 

 getting of a name that one has "on the tip of the 

 tongue." Finally I got it. Here are no "dead and 



