278 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



changed. The negro led us in a stiff walk for an hour, down 

 a pasture by a little river, through a banana field, then some 

 standing timber partly cleared, out into open sun again by 

 a very winding path where the clearing had proceeded 

 farther until finally the welcome shade of the forest itself 

 was reached. The trail led westward here but was said to 

 be part of a route to Nicaragua — in any event it traverses 

 many a league of forest. We followed it for perhaps a mile 

 and then returned as we had come. Its width varied and 

 was often not greater than that of one's body although the 

 trail was often traveled on horse or mule-back. On each 

 side of the trail the vegetation was so thick and dense that 

 one could not make way for more than a few feet without 

 the use of a machete such as all the natives and negroes carry. 

 In this forest were mingled exogenous, deciduous trees of 

 many kinds and a variety of palms. The former were rather 

 tall on the whole but there were many exceptions. All the 

 trees lacked branches until they were many feet above the 

 ground, but this lower space was occupied by the epiphytes 

 and parasitic plants, bromeliads, ferns, orchids, lianas and 

 other vines which shot upward from the trunks or hung 

 from the far-away branches and twisted and twined in both 

 profusion and confusion. On the ground itself were shrubs 

 and smaller plants reaching up to mingle with those descend- 

 ing. There was much difference in the tree-trunks as to 

 bareness or as to being covered with lichens. The large 

 exogenous trees rose out of the soil with numerous ridge- 

 like buttresses, while many of the palms had aerial roots. 

 Most of the birds were far away overhead in the foliage of 

 the trees proper, but sometimes an opening above, admitting 

 sunshine, gave a glimpse of them or there was a swarm of 

 butterflies around a full-flowered tree. 



There were so many new things to look at, both those of 

 which I had read and those totally unknown, and so many 



