MOEALISTS AT FAULT. 145 



formed of the same thorny beams, were suspended as an ample 

 security against the incursions of the naked and timid low- 

 landers. 



Poets and moralists, judging by what they see in England, 

 have concluded that fruits of a small size, whose fall cannot be 

 dangerous to man, invariably grow on high trees, while large 

 fruits, such as the pumpkin, are only found trailing on the 

 ground. But a visit to the tropics would soon convince them 

 of their error, for two of tlie largest and heaviest fruits known, 

 the Brazilian nut {BerthoUetia) and the Durian of the Indian 

 Archipelago, grow on high forest trees, from which they fall 

 down when ripe, and frequently wound or kill the natives. 

 *From this,' says Mr. Wallace, 'we can learn two things — in the 

 first place, not to draw general conclusions from a locally very 

 limited knowledge of nature, and, secondly, that trees and fruits, 

 as well as the manifold productions of the animal kingdom, 

 have not been exclusively organised with a reference to man,' 



