THE VIRGIN FOREST 430 



half-a-dozen persons. The purpose of these structures is as obvious, 

 at the first glance, as that of the similar props of brickwork which 

 support. a high wall. They are not peculiar to one species, but are 

 common to most of the larger forest trees. Their nature and manner 

 of growth are explained when a series of young trees of different ages 

 is examined. It is then seen that they are the roots which have 

 raised themselves ridge-like out of the earth ; growing gradually 

 upwards as the increasing height of the tree required augmented 

 support. Thus they are plainly intended to sustain the massive 

 crown and trunk in these crowded forests, whose lateral growth of 

 the roots in the earth is rendered difficult by the multitude of 

 competitors." 



Scarcely less remarkable, and certainly not less useful, than the 

 Traveller's Tree of Madagascar is the Massaranduba, or Cow Tree, of 

 these grand Brazilian wildernesses. It is one of the largest of the 

 forest monarchs, but rather reminds you of monarchy in its decay 

 than of regal pomp, owing to its deeply-scored reddish and ragged 

 back. A decoction of this bark is used as a red dye for cloth. The 

 copious milk-like fluid which the tree supplies, and which may even 

 be drawn from dry logs that have stood for days in the sun, is 

 wholesome and nutritious, if taken in moderate quantities. On 

 exposure to the air it soon thickens into an excessively tenacious 

 glue. 



But, apart from these monstrous trees, the virgin forest possesses 

 an abundance of interest for even the least observant traveller, while 

 in its various phases it is adapted to astonish, to impress, and to awe a 

 thoughtful mind. It is true that it does not boast of that profusion of 

 floral ornament, of those gay and exquisite buds and blossoms, which 

 make the charm of our English woods ; but in its infinite variety of 

 foliage the grace of colour and beauty of form are ever present. What 

 most seizes upon the soul, however, is its intense silence which the 

 occasional scream of some wild animal, or the infrequent song of some 

 pensive bird, or the sudden crash of some over-toppling tree, does but 

 render the more significant and appalling. The hush is like that 



