^46 JUNGLE PEACE 



northern. The finely cut leaves were like wil- 

 low, and at one side an oak, unusual but still 

 an oak, reached out a thousand thousand mo- 

 tionless leaves, breaking the glare into innumer- 

 able patches. But ahead, the terrible interlacing 

 of vines and thorny ropes, the strangle-hold of 

 serpentine lianas on every available trunk — all 

 this could be only tropic. 



The ground glistened here and there with a 

 film of black water which revealed the swamp. 

 Everywhere the mold and leaves of a hundred 

 years lay scattered, the last fallen still green. 

 Many feet above, great fans dangled, rayed 

 fronds dry and crackling, fallen from high over- 

 head, and suspended, waiting for the interfer- 

 ing twigs and foliage to die in turn and permit 

 them to seek dissolution in the mold. 



The jungle was bright with flowers, but it 

 was a sinister brightness — a poisonous, threaten- 

 ing flash of pigment, set off by the blackness 

 of the shadows. Heliconia spikes gleamed like 

 fixed scarlet lightning, zigzagging through the 

 pungent air. Now and then a bunch of pleas- 

 ing, warm-hued berries reminded one of innocu- 

 ous currants, but a second glance showed them 

 ripening into swollen, liver-hued globes which 



