THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. 51 



crashing ; even the strong lianas are torn 

 asunder, and the broken branches and stems 

 fall to the ground. Great quantities 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 insects only, which long 

 before announced the coming uproar, are now 

 silent, and keep close on the under surface of 

 the leaves till all is over, and the sun again 

 shines brightly out." 



These vast forests abound in tropical America ; 

 11 the upper Oronoko flows for some hundreds 

 of miles, chiefly through forests, and the banks 

 of the Amazon are crowded with dense woods. 

 In these the trees are colossal, and the vegeta- 

 tion so matted together by underwood, parasites, 

 and climbers, that the sun's rays can scarce 

 penetrate the dense foliage ; and so profusely 

 are plants scattered here, that these forests vary 

 very much in different places, though the climate 

 and temperature are the same. Venezuela, 

 Brazil, Guiana, Rio Negro, and Para, have 



