THE EQUATORIAL FOREST ZONE. 151 



Leaves. Palm Trees in a Gale. Areca Palms. Gigantic Palm Leaves. 

 Height of Lofty Palms. Bamboos. The Growth of Bamboos. 

 Bamboos seen at Night. The Great Repose of Nature. Tropical 

 Creepers. Rattans. Great Thickets in Tropical Forests. Their Gloomy 

 and Impassable Character. Lianas. Their Occasional Gigantic Size and 

 Magnificent Flowers. Orchids. Vanilla. Foliage Plants. Shade-Loving 

 Plants. Brilliant Colourings of Young Leaves and Shoots. Necessity 

 for a Good Glass in Examining Jungle Trees. Jungle Paths. Tropical 

 Fruits. Bananas as an Article of Food. Their Varieties. 

 Banana Leaves. Leaf of the Musa Ensete. The Bread Fruit Tree. 

 Mangoes. The Coolness of Tropical Fruits. Power of Vegetables of 

 Adjusting Their Own Temperature. Cause of the Coolness of Fruits. 

 Animal Heat and Vegetable Temperature Contrasted. The Commercial 

 Products of the Equatorial Zone. Medical Treasures. Cinchona Trees. 

 The Introduction of Cinchona into India. Attempts by Peruvian 

 Government to Prevent the Export of Seeds. The Value of Quinine to 

 Explorers. Indian and Ceylon Cinchona Plantations. The Discovery of 

 Quinine. Noble Conduct of Two Young French Chemists. Paltry 

 Reward Granted for Their Services. Illustrious Deeds of Men of War 

 and of Peace Contrasted. 



IF we take the Equator as a central line dividing 

 our globe into two hemispheres we have two belts of 

 country extending on either side of it, as far as Lat. 

 15 N., and Lat. 15 S., which together occupy a 

 section of the earth's surface, 1 800 geographical miles 

 in width,* forming the great Equatorial Forest Zone, 

 and extending through the calm belt of low atmospheric 

 pressures where rains fall throughout the year, into the 

 region of the double rainy seasons, where they fall for 

 at least half the year. 



The wide area included within the above limits, 

 gives us on the whole perhaps a more correct idea of 

 these great forest regions, than a subdivision into a 



* This coincides with Meyen's division of the range of temperature 

 into zones. See his Outlines of the Geography of Plants, 1854, p. 161. 

 But his divisions are generally too numerous and complicated to receive 

 general acceptance though we regard his work as deserving of a high 

 place in the science of geographical botany, and we follow his range of 

 equatorial climates, in preference to some of the more modern com- 

 mentators. 



