THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 213 



me a fitting emblem of the Arabian fairy tales. For as they appear 

 to require no soil, although they have sprung from it, but to take 

 their chief nourishment from the air; as they wind their flexible 

 stems from tree to tree, attaching themselves firmly to each, yet 

 struggling on, until, at length, they unfold on some flowerless tree- 

 top, covering it with radiant, fragrant blossoms: so the fairy tale, 

 though it may have been firmly rooted in fact, is not sustained 

 by any real connection therewith, but reaches up to heaven for 

 strength, and sends its poetry over all the world until it finds 

 a heart which beats responsive. When I speak of climbing plants 

 I do not mean any one species, but include under the term all 

 those plants which here thickly cover a trunk with their tor- 

 tuous coils, and there spread their tendrils over a bare tree-top; 

 which in one place link many trees together, and in another cover 

 a single tree with wreaths of green; which in one part of the 

 forest link branch to branch with bridges of naked tendrils, and in 

 another region combine to render the way impassable; occurring in 

 a hundred different forms, but always twining and climbing. Their 

 beauty, the charm they exercise on the northerner may be felt but 

 cannot be described, for words to begin or end a satisfactory 

 description would be as difficult to find as the beginnings and ends 

 of the climbers themselves. These climbing plants, though within 

 reach of one's hand, yet do not allow of close observation; one 

 follows the course of their tendrils admiringly, but without being 

 able to say whence they come and whither they go; one revels in 

 the sight of their flowers without being able to reach them, or 

 often do more than guess to what plants they belong. These 

 climbers, above all else, impress on the woodlands the stamp and 

 seal of the primitive forest. 



But they have other ornaments than the blossoms which they 

 themselves unfold. Their tendrils are the favourite perches of many 

 of the most beautiful birds of the forest, living flowers which far 

 surpass those of the plant in beauty and charm. Sometimes it 

 happens that a sudden flash, like a sun-ray reflected from a smooth, 

 bright surface, catches the eye and guides it to the spot from which 

 it emanated. The shimmer is indeed a sunbeam a sunbeam reflected 



