316 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



dinner state of repose. Besides, a violent hurricane might 

 chance to come on, and to be in one of these forests during 

 a hurricane is said to be more awful than being exposed to 

 a storm at sea. All Nature utters a cry of distress at the 

 approach of these tornadoes ; " the boisterous wind catches 

 the tops of the gigantic trees, and shakes the branches and 

 trunks against each other ; the air is filled with a fearful 

 rushing, thundering, rattling, and crashing ; even the strong 

 Lianas are torn asunder, and the broken branches and stems 

 fall to the ground. Great numbers of the parasites are 

 thrown down from their lofty situations, and the trees are 

 stripped of their fruit, which, generally cased in a hard shell, 

 falls to the ground with a loud crash. The rain, at first 

 warded off by the thick canopy of foliage, now falls in so 

 much the greater masses, and adds to the horrors of the 

 moment ; almost all the inhabitants of the forest betray their 

 fear by mournful howling and crying ; the apes, the large 

 bats, and the whole host of birds, call loudly all together, 

 and the croaking of the tree-frogs and others of this family, 

 sometimes like the sound of a drum, discloses the great 

 misery of the moment * . . . the serpents creep for shelter 

 under the fallen leaves, or disappear among the bushes, hiss- 

 * Meyen. 



