THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 33 



with brushwood, creeping plants, innumerable parasites, all 

 swprming with life. There, too, are myriads of insects of every 

 variety ; reptiles of strange and singular forms ; serpents and 

 lizards, spotted with deadly beauty ; all of which find means of 

 existence in this vast workshop and repository of nature. Dr. 

 Gardener, who looked at these things with the eye of a botanist, 

 says that near Rio Janeiro the heat and moisture are sufficient to 

 compensate even the poorest soil; so that "rocks, on which 

 scarcely a trace of earth is to be observed, are covered with a 

 profuse vegetation, all in the vigor of life." That nothing may 

 be wanting in this land of marvels, the forests are skirted b}' 

 enormous meadows which, reeking with heat and moisture, 

 supply countless herds of wild cattle, that browse and fatten on 

 their herbage ; while the adjoining plains, rich in another form 

 of life, are the chosen abode of the subtlest and most ferocious 

 animals, which prey upon each other, but which it might almost 

 seem no human power can hope to extirpate. Mr. Darwin, the 

 eminent naturalist, says, "In England, any person fond of 

 natural history enjoys in his walks a great advantage, by always 

 having something to attract his attention ; but in these fertile 

 climates, teeming with life, the attractions are so numerous that 

 he is scarcely able to walk at all." 



We have spoken of the trade-winds as extending over the 

 whole breadth of the Tropical World. But to this there is a 

 notable exception. Near the equator, but a little to the north of 

 it, the two currents from the Arctic and Antarctic regions 

 meet and neutralize each other, producing a belt of calms, which 

 sailors call the "Doldrums," of about six degrees in breadth. 

 Here it rains almost every day during the year, for the ascending 

 currents of heated air loaded with moisture become suddenly 

 cooled in the higher regions, and are forced to give up the water 

 which they have lifted from the ocean. Toward noon dense 

 clouds form in the sky and dissolve in torrents of rain. Toward 

 evening the vapors disperse, and the sun sets in a cloudless 

 horizon. The quantity of rain which here falls during the 

 year is enormous. In the United States the annual rainfall is 

 3 



