2$2 /AT THE GUIANA FOREST. 



some seed of the courida. Then began the work 

 of building up an island which to-day is about two 

 miles long by one broad, and is known on the chart 

 as Dauntless Island. 



When we see the magnificent results of Nature's 

 operations our own feeble efforts seem reduced to 

 almost nothingness. True, we may go to her 

 school and learn a thousand lessons, by the carry- 

 ing out of which we may attain some measure of 

 success. But where can we find such a perfect 

 example of combination as is shown by this grand 

 line of sea defences. Even the dams and dykes of 

 the Hollander sink into insignificance before it. 

 But here, as in the forest proper, Nature's opera- 

 tions can only be thoroughly understood when care- 

 fully investigated from a thousand points of view, 

 and when even what appear to us the merest trifles 

 are taken into account. 



Leaving the courida we must now enter the 

 mouths of the river and admire the work of the 

 mangrove. We have already stated that it is found 

 here and there in the courida bush, but to investi- 

 gate it properly we must go a few miles up one of the 

 larger streams. Here the banks are almost entirely 

 lined with its apparently inextricably confused 

 jungle of buttresses. We can walk in the courida 

 bush, but not in the mangrove swamp. Here is 



