THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 29 



it seems as if its strength and its grandeur have spe- 

 cially enabled it here to display a certain majestic reg- 

 ularity in vegetation. The trees, towering up to a 

 height that wearies the eyes, do not permit feeble 

 shrubs to grow underneath. But the vault of the for- 

 ests is raised higher ; the enormous trunks of the trees 

 which support it form immense porticoes and spread 

 out their branches with majesty. They are covered 

 at the top with a multitude of parasitical plants, which 

 seem to claim the air as their domain, and which 

 proudly mingle their flowers with the very top branch- 

 es. Here often upon the immense fig-tree, which is 

 itself unpretending in appearance, a flexible liane will 

 twist spirally around it, covering it with garlands, 

 and uniting it to all the great plants that grow around, 

 till at the utmost top it seems to defy the dazzling 

 splendor of the noon-tide before it once more descends 

 to embellish the mysterious recesses from which it 

 first sprang." 



In the forests, which are less majestic and more 

 easily penetrated by the rays of the sun, vegetation 

 presents an astonishing variety and within much easi- 

 er reach. Among the travellers that have described 

 these forests in detail, perhaps no one is more exact 

 than the prince of Neu Wied. 



"Everywhere life and vegetation abound without 

 limits," he says ; " and not the smallest space can be 

 found where there are no plants. On all the trunks 

 of the trees we see grenadillas, caladineas, pepper 

 and vanillas, etc., flourishing, climbing and twisting. 

 Some of the gigantic steins covered with flowers look 



