INTRODUCTION xxiii 



great Kaieteur Falls being several times as high 

 as our Niagara, and nearly as great an amount qf^ 

 water going over it. The greatest beauty of the 

 Guiana jungles, however, is not the scenic beauty 

 of its broad landscapes, but the beauty of the 

 intimate, the little bits, that go to make up the 

 whole wonderful, fascinating jungle; a single 

 orchid, for instance, growing high on a branch 

 of a forest giant with strap-like leaves and lovely 

 flowers and long aerial roots streaming down far 

 below ; or one of the big Arums with great heart- 

 shaped velvety leaves and curious blossoms called 

 tail flowers. Every tree, plant and vine has its 

 own beautiful or curious flower, or leaf, or both, 

 and the flowers all have their attendant bees, 

 wasps, butterflies or moths. The lovely jeweled 

 hummingbirds go from one to another and add to 

 the beauty of the little group, while on the twig 

 beside the flower is perched a toucan or cotinga. 

 The roots of the jungle trees are nearly always 

 buttressed, great shoulders thrust out from the 

 trunks, sometimes round and massive, but more 

 often thin and flat, with edges hard and strong to 

 resist the impact of falling trunks and branches, 

 and too narrow to afford lodgement for seeds or 

 parasites which are trying everywhere to gain a 

 footing. On the ground between these great 

 roots are masses of dead leaves, fruits, seeds and 

 seed pods, of all shades of reds, yellows, and 

 browns; and the dead trunks and branches are 

 covered with most beautiful mosses and lichens. 

 Everywhere is beauty; everywhere in the light of 

 day are most lovely little pictures, and, when 

 the shades of night have fallen, everywhere is 



