THE ROMANCE OP NATURAL HISTORY. 



Solemn are those primeval labyrinths of giant 

 trees, tangled with ten thousand creepers, and 

 roofed with lofty arches of light foliage, diversified 

 with masses of glorious blossom of all rich hues; 

 while from the borders of the igaripes, or narrow 

 canals that permeate the lower levels, spring most 

 elegant ferns, lowly sensitive mimosas, great and 

 fantastic herbaceous plants, marbled and spotted 

 arums, closely compacted fan-palms with spread- 

 ing crowns, and multitudes of other strange 

 forms of vegetation in an almost inconceivable 

 profusion. The gigantic scale of life strongly ex- 

 cites astonishment in these forests. In Europe we 

 associate flowers with herbs or shrubs, but here 

 we see trees of colossal height, in all the splendour 

 of bloom, which clothes the whole crown with its 

 colour. 



The traveller sees with delight, trees covered 

 with magnificent, large lilac, orange, crimson, or 

 white blossoms, contrasting beautifully with the 

 surrounding varied tints of green. After enjoying, 

 with a restless glance, this display of colours, he 

 turns to the deep shades which lie disclosed, 

 solemn and mournful, between the gigantic trees 

 on the wayside. The flame-coloured raceme of a 

 tilhtndsm, resembling an immense pine-apple, 

 glows like fire among the dark foliage. Again at- 

 tention is attracted by the charming orchids, with 

 most fantastic flowers, climbing up the straight 

 trunks of the trees, or picturesquely covering their 

 branches, which seldom shoot out from the trunk 

 at a less height than fifty to eighty feet from the 

 ground. From the fertility of the soil, the trees 

 spring up so densely, that, when young, their 

 branches, not having room to expand freely, 

 strive to overtop one another. The tillandsias 

 nestle at the ramification of the smaller branches, 

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