14 THE FOREST. 



birds, like gems of beauty, come to seek honey and 

 insects from the forest flowers. Fly -catchers 

 gleam and sparkle. Water-fowl of snowy plumage 

 sport on the streams, and their white dresses 

 contrast with those of the red Flamingo, or the 

 scarlet Ibis, that stand patiently fishing on the 

 shore! 



Here and there a black object appears on the 

 water, that looks like a log of wood floating slowly 

 down. But it is nothing of the kind. It is the 

 fierce alligator watching for his prey. And here, 

 too, fringing many an islet in the river, is seen 

 the wonderful mangrove, a tree that can grow 

 on the shores of the ocean, with its roots bathed 

 by the salt waves. 



A belt of mangroves fringing the river -bank 

 will push itself farther and farther, until a portion 

 of land will actually be reclaimed and wrested, as 

 it were, from the water. 



The mangrove has a curious way of lifting itself 

 out of the ground or swamp. Its roots form a 

 number of arches, which rise up to some height 

 and spread themselves far and wide. From the 



