126 



SOUTH AMERICA 



however, is not so great here as in other tropical regions. 

 The low, marshy forests are frequently fringed with 

 shallow lagoons, mangrove, or brackish, swamps, which 

 are belted with swamp forests, or hidden by tall and 

 thick hedges of grass and reeds. 



FIG. 37. Undergrowth of a tidal 'bayou* in intertrop'cal country. 



In many places the forest has been cut down or burnt 

 when a kind of savana takes its place, or plantations 

 have developed, including sugar-cane, coco-palm, cacao, 

 and rubber, along with bananas, pineapple, cotton, maize, 



