324 A DAY AND NIGHT ON THE AMAZON. 



from the pitchy shade upon an open space, he saw two twink- 

 ling lights, which told him that the village was ahead. 



But we were d^cribing a tropical day. Night is over. 

 The sun rising again in the cloudless sky, the cycle is com- 

 pleted — spring, summer, and autumn, as it were, in one 

 tropical day. The days are more or less like this throughout 

 the year. A little difference exists between the dry and wet 

 seasons. The periodical phenomena of plants and animals do 

 not take place at about the same time in all the species, or in 

 the individuals of any given species, as they do in temperate 

 countries. The dry season here is not excessive, nor is there 

 any estivation, as in some tropical countries. In these 

 forests the aspect is the same or nearly so every day in the 

 year — budding, flowering, fruiting, and leaf-shedding, are 

 always going on in one species or other. The activity of 

 birds and insects proceeds without inten'uption, each species 

 having its own breeding- times. The colonies of wasps, for 

 instance, do not die oft' annually, leaving only the queens, as 

 in cold climates, but the succession of generations and colonies 

 goes on incessantly. It is never either spring, summer, or 

 autumn, but each day is a combination of the three. With 

 the day and night always of equal leng^th, the atmospheric 

 disturbances of each day neutralize themselves before each 

 succeeding morning. With the sun in its course proceeding 

 midway across the sky, and the daily temperature the same 

 within two or three degTees throughout the year, how grand 

 in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of 

 nature under the equator ! 



" Oppressive, almost fearful, is the silence and gloom of the 

 Brazilian forest," says Bates. " The few sounds of birds are 

 of that pensive or mysterious character which intensifies the 



