FIRST DAY IN THE FOREST. 21 



to sit still and wait for game to come to you, than to 

 roam about aimlessly in search of it. 



The parrot apple is a tree resembling a wild fig, 

 and throws out and down to the ground, from stem 

 and branches, shoots like those of the banyan and 

 mangrove. Some of these "adventitious roots" at 

 touch of earth spring up again, like the fabled 

 Antaeus who wrestled with Hercules, climb up into 

 the tree, and join themselves to limbs and branches. 

 It is a peculiarity of some species of the family to 

 which this tree belongs to attach itself to whatever it 

 meets, like the barnacle to a ship, and sometimes 

 specimens may be found completely inclosing another 

 tree in a deadly embrace, growing completely around 

 it, the bark visible only through the meshes in a 

 ligneous net. The leaves are large, round, and glossy 

 green; the fruit is fig-shaped, and contains seeds 

 that will burn like a wax taper. When the fruit is 

 ripe the negroes say, " The parrot apple am bus','' 

 and, like the birds and wood rats, seek it out for its 

 precious seeds. 



The treetop was alive with birds, the most beau- 

 tiful of which were the little creepers, with their 

 backs of velvet blue, head cerulean green, under parts 

 azure, and feet coral red. Their dried skins may be 

 found in all the bird sellers' stores in cities, for there 

 is a great demand for them with which to "orna- 

 ment " the hats and bonnets of thoughtless women. 



The farther I proceeded into the forest the denser 

 became the vegetation ; but at last I found a secluded 

 dell, where the tall trees had prevented the under- 



