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THE WET SEASON IN THE FORESTS. 57 



zone — it is of course quite impossible to embrace all their 

 varieties of form and aspect in one general description. 



On descending from the heights of the Andes to the plains of 

 the Maraiion, the eye is attracted, in the more elevated forests 

 (the region of the quinquina trees), by a variety of fantastically 

 flowering orchids — and of arborescent ferns, with their lacelike 

 giant leaves — by large dendritic urticeas — by wonderful bigno- 

 nias, banisterias, passifloras, and many other inextricably tangled 

 bush-ropes and creepers. Farther downwards, though the lianafs 

 still appear in large numbers, the eye delights in palms of every 

 variety of form, in terebinthinaceas, in leguminosas, whose sap 

 is rich with many a costly balsam ; in laurels, bearing an 

 abundance of aromatic fruit ; or it admires the broad-leaved 

 heliconias, the large blossoms of the solaneas, and thousands of 

 other flowers, remarkable for the beauty of their colour, the 

 strangeness of their form, or their exquisite aroma. 



In the deep lowlands the forest assumes a severe and dismal 

 character : dense crowns of foliage form lofty vaults almost 

 impenetrable to the light of day ; no underwood thrives on the 

 swampy ground ; no parasite puts forth its delicate blossoms 

 under the shade of the mighty trees and only mushrooms sprout 

 abundantly from the humid soil. 



Nothing can equal the gloom of these forests during the 

 lainy season. Thick fogs obscure the damp and sultry air, and 

 clouds of mosquitos whirl about in the mist. The trees are 

 dripping with moisture ; the flowers expand their petals only 

 during the few dry hours of the day, and every animal seeks 

 shelter in the thicket. No bird, no butterfly comes forth ; the 

 snorting of the capybaras, and the monotonous croaking of frogs 

 and toads, are the only sounds that break the dull 'silence. 

 Night darkens with increasing sadness over these dismal soli- 

 tudes ; no star is visible ; the moon disappears behind thick 

 clouds ; and the roar of the jaguar, or the howling of the 

 stentor-monkey, issue like notes of distress from the depth of 

 the melancholy woods. 



A hurricane bursting over the primeval forest is one of the 

 most terrific scenes of nature. A hollow uproar in the higher 

 regions of the air, as if the wild huntsman of the German 

 legends were sweeping along with his whole pack of phantom 

 hounds, precedes the explosion of the storm, while the lower 



