268 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



them off as they ascend. This you do not want, 

 and must therefore give them a judicious trimming 

 now and again. This can be done without mutila- 

 tion or spoiling the effect of your interesting wild 

 garden, which becomes a centre where birds build 

 their nests in the trees, bats hang themselves under 

 the dense climbers, marabuntas affix their bag-like 

 homes in the branches, and a hundred species of 

 ants are at work everywhere. Here also a few 

 harmless snakes are sure to lurk, and with the 

 lizards help to make the garden an epitome of 

 almost everything, and a little world in itself 

 You may quietly study the fertilisation of flowers, 

 and watch the whole process ; see the ants attack 

 and defeat great larvae and cochroaches ; observe 

 the mantis spring forward from its apparently 

 devout position and clutch the fly which has come 

 within its reach ; and feel as if you are one of these 

 instead of looking down upon them all with scorn 

 and contempt. The snakes, spiders, and larvae, 

 are no longer repulsive, but creatures most beauti- 

 fully formed, and as much entitled to live as 

 yourself. 



