THE COTTON-WOOD TREE. 87 



teued to them so closely, tliat they seem to be parts 

 of them. Here the ferns also are seen in great 

 variety. Loranihaceoe and MelanostomaceoB are found 

 in this zone. To this region belongs the beautiful 

 cotton- wood tree Its trunk is seldom more than ten 

 or twelve inches in diameter, and rises up almost 

 l^erpendicularly thirty feet. The bark is of a 

 light olive-gi'een, and remarkably smooth and fair. 

 The limbs shoot out in whorls at right angles to 

 the tmnk, and, as they are separated by a considera- 

 ble space, their open foliage is in strong contrast to 

 the dark, dense jungle out of which they usually 

 lise. They thi'ive well also along the banks of 

 rivers. In Java these trees are frequently used as 

 telegraph-posts — a purpose for which they are ad- 

 miral^ly adapted on account of their regularity. Be- 

 sides, any thing but a li\dng post would quickly 

 decay in these tropical lands. The fruit is a pod, 

 and the fibrous substance it yields is quite like cot- 

 ton. I found it very suitable for stuffing birds. 



Over this region of the fig comes that of oaks 

 and laui'els. Orchidaceous plants and melastomas 

 are more abundant here. 



Above five or six thousand feet are Ruhiacece^ 

 heaths, and cone-bearing trees ; and from this legion 

 we pass up into one where small ferns abound, and 

 lichens and mosses cover the rocks and hang from 

 the trees. The tropical world is now beneath us, 

 and we are in the temperate zone. 



Tlie tops of all those volcanic mountains that are 

 still in a state of eruption are usually bare; and in 

 others so large a quantity of the sulphur they pro- 



