THE TROPICAL ZONE. 193 



But however carefully we may be introduced to the plants 

 which compose the tropical vegetation, we must still feel, 

 in starting on our tour through this zone, that we are in a 

 strange land ; so strange, that we can now seldom point to 

 anything we see, as we have heretofore done, and say this is 

 like such or such a plant we have in England. 



Let us now pass hastily through the Sandwich Islands, 

 and take our first look at a tropical forest ; it will be neces- 

 sary to go hatchet in hand, for besides the larger forest-trees, 

 amongst which we see some immense Acacias (Acacia hete- 

 Tophytta), there is an endless mass of Tree-ferns, Pandani, 

 and Scitaminea, all closely interwoven with different kinds 

 of Ipomcets. But cutting our way through this becomes a 

 hopeless case, where, in the thickest part of the forest, the 

 Pandani and Ananas grow in such numbers, that they choke 

 up all the intervening space between the trees with their 

 large leaves, and surround them with hundreds of branches : 

 the whole mass forming a tangled underwood some eight 

 or ten feet high. No hatchet will open a passage through 

 this ; the only alternative is to mount on the top of this 

 dense matting, which is sufficiently firm to walk on, whilst 

 we take a satisfied look at the beautiful hangings with which 

 the parasitical ferns adorn the trees. Amongst these are 



