A TROPICAL JUNGLE 



yards and pitched camp beneath two huge mango 

 trees. 



Besides furnishing one of the most delicious of 

 the tropical fruits, the mango is also one of the most 

 beautiful of trees. It is tall, spreads very wide, and 

 its branches sweep to within ten feet of the ground. 

 Its perfect symmetry combined with the size and 

 deep green of its leaves causes it to resemble, from 

 a short distance, a beautiful green hill. Beneath its 

 umbrella one finds dense shade, unmottled by a 

 single ray of sunlight, so that one can lie beneath it 

 in full confidence. For, parenthetically, even a 

 single ray of this tropical sunlight is to the unpro- 

 tected a very dangerous thing. But the leaves of 

 the mango have this peculiarity, which distin- 

 guishes it from all other trees — namely that they 

 grow only at the very ends of the small twigs and 

 branches. As these, of course, grow only at the 

 ends of the big limbs, it follows that from beneath 

 the mango looks like a lofty green dome, a veritable 

 pantheon of the forest. 



We made our camp under one of these trees; gave 

 ourselves all the space we could use; and had plenty 

 left over — five tents and a cook camp, with no 

 crowding. It was one of the pleasantest camps 

 I ever saw. Our green dome overhead protected 

 us absolutely from the sun; high sweet grass grew all 



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