2;o IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



anything weaker than itself from coming to the 

 front. Whether this plant is ever truly wild is 

 difficult to decide as far as can be judged it is 

 always a sign of man's presence at some former 

 period. Ages ago perhaps an Indian in crossing 

 the mourie threw the crown of a pine-apple beside 

 the path after eating the fruit, and to-day im- 

 pregnable clumps indicate here and there the 

 tracks used long before the discovery of America. 



On the little hills which rise here and there 

 beside the creeks, and which we should judge 

 likely places for Indian settlements if we did not 

 know the people had migrated, the pine-apple is 

 nearly always to be found if the soil is sandy and 

 barren. With it also grows the handsome bella- 

 donna lily as well as the krattee (Nidularium 

 Karatas), the fibres of which have always been 

 used for hammock-ropes. More rarely the arrow- 

 cane (Gynerium Saccharoides), and a few Cala- 

 diums are also seen, but as they require a more 

 fertile soil, their presence is inconsistent with 

 abandonment for any long period, 



The first European settlers arrived about three 

 centuries ago, bringing with them trees of the 

 orange family, bananas, and sugar-cane. This 

 last has never succeeded in propagating itself 

 or in holding its own against the more energetic 



