274 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



clearing and cover the fruit-trees, weeds choke 

 every shrub in the flower garden, the cissus (C. 

 sicyoides) climbs all over the wooden walls of the 

 building, and figs insinuate their roots between the 

 brickwork pillars. Cut an opening through the 

 mound of vegetation which covers what was once 

 the dwelling-house, and you will see in the interior 

 a thicket of roots which have pushed themselves 

 through the roof and penetrated one floor after 

 another until they reached the ground, where they 

 spread and dispute every inch with their neigh- 

 bours. The painted boards may appear almost 

 intact except for cracks and crevices, but if you 

 press your hand against them ever so lightly they 

 give way. Even the finger can be pushed through 

 with hardly the risk of a splinter, as only a paper- 

 like film remains of the once inch board, the 

 remainder being nothing more than an inextricable 

 confusion of galleries with similar partitions ex- 

 cavated by wood-ants. The floor is, of course, in 

 the same condition, and even the beams are little 

 better, although they may perhaps have a small 

 core of solid timber. A few months later a heavy 

 rainfall will make the whole collapse and gradually 

 sink to the ground, the figs meanwhile rising 

 higher and higher on the rich food provided by 

 the decomposing material. 



