Tropical Forests 



An isolated mountain range will be forest-clad 

 towards its base ; above there is a cloud-zone where 

 different conditions prevail, and on the exposed ridges 

 and peaks of the summit there may be a temperate and 

 even a kind of " alpine " flora. 



Where the wind can sweep freely across an open 

 plateau or a country only gently undulating, there is 

 nothing like the abundant rainfall or the continually 

 moist atmosphere which characterises the true wet- 

 jungle. It is this which we must try, somehow, to 

 describe, but it is an exceedingly difficult undertaking. 

 As we have shown elsewhere, there are at least four or 

 possibly five main " stories " of leaf surface. The foliage 

 canopy of the tall trees is far above one's head and looks 

 black against the sky. Then there are dense masses of 

 creeper foliage ; below these again are young, aspiring 

 trees ; nearer the ground there are shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants, and on the ground itself there may be mosses, 

 ferns, or herbaceous plants. But the eyes are bewildered 

 by the confusion of foliages, of flowers and leaves in- 

 extricably mixed. Mosses, Selaginellas, climbing figs, 

 Peperomias, and Arums mingle with orchids, Brome- 

 liads, and a great variety of epiphytic ferns and the like. 



But the traveller is proceeding slowly along a small 

 winding footpath and can see very little except this 

 tangle of exuberant vegetation. It is dark, dank, and 

 mysterious, and the atmosphere is that of a hothouse. 

 Here and there he finds great flowers like Gardenias, 

 flaming Labiates, and quantities of Acanthaceae and 

 Rubiacese. The weird knotted cables or windings and 

 coils of the lianas or creepers cannot fail to impress him. 



As a rule the forest is exceedingly lonely and mysteri- 

 ously quiet. Very seldom does he catch sight of either 

 bird or beast. Now and then, perhaps, a crowd of 

 gorgeously coloured and stately butterflies will be 

 drinking eagerly from some noisome pool or objection- 



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