CHAPTEK XV. 



TREES OF THE TEOPICAL FOREST. 



Cocoa palms, grugus, and palmistes — What a virgin forest is 

 like — Grreen heart and purple heart — Mastic and silk cotton — 

 The tree Crusoe made his canoe of — Bamboos and logwood. 



The distinguishing characteristic of the tropical 

 forest is the diversity of its vegetation, as contrasted 

 with a body of equal area in the temperate regions. 

 Then, again, it is always abloom, with blossoms of 

 orchids and creepers, vines and sky-scraping trees. 

 The flora of Tobago, like its fauna, is continental, 

 instead of insular, for it belongs of right to South 

 America, from which continent it was once separated, 

 ages agone. 



Lying within sight of the island of Trinidad, from 

 which the continent can be dimly seen, it has the 

 same floral and faunal peculiarities, so that we may 

 study the tropical vegetation here without becoming 

 lost in the vastness of great continental forests. Half 

 of its area of one hundred and twenty square miles is 

 still a virgin wilderness, and in beauty it is unsurpassed. 

 There are, says an old writer, whole groves of sassa- 

 fras and other odoriferous plants, which render the 

 air wholesome and pleasant. The nutmeg and pimento 



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