A PLANTATION IN A TROPICAL FOREST Nab} 
and for the light that means life to them. Numberless 
orchids and other air plants grow on elevated branches, 
where they get an advantage in the struggle. From each 
tree hangs a perfect net-work of vines, swaying in the wind 
like the loose cordage of a wrecked ship. It all makes an 
impenetrable tangle of foliage and no winter colds or 
drought checks its growth. It is only limited by ground 
space and light which it can obtain, but there is no accumu- 
lation of rotten wood, as in our forest, for white ants (or 
termites) eat all this as soon as it falls. 
In this tropical fastness lurk numberless wild animals. 
There are some poisonous snakes, and there are iguanas, a 
species of lizard three our four feet long, of a bright green 
or lemon yellow color. These lie extended on the branches 
of trees overhanging pools of water, ready to leap likea flash 
under the water as one approaches. Tapirs, with blue- 
black rubbery looking hides, and long proboscis like small 
elephants. ‘There are jaguars, a hugh animal of the cat 
family, next in size to the Bengal tiger. These are called 
by the natives ‘‘tigres,’’ ‘There are peccaries, a species of 
small wild boar, with long fierce tusks like the Emperor 
William’s mustaches. These wild boars are the most 
dangerous of all. The jaguar, though able to overcome 
any number of men, at close quarters, is a very timid crea- 
ture, but the peccaries, when in large numbers, are abso- 
lutely fearless. One night shoot a few of them, but this 
would not prevent his being torn to pieces by the balance. 
My first introduction to this forest was in the middle of a dark 
night, when I left the friendly Pullman car and had a four 
or five mile walk through the wilderness to a plantation 
house. ‘The path was just wide enough to walk in. The 
feeble lantern carried by my host made a spot a few feet in 
diameter around us. On either side the forest was like a 
black solid wall ; one could almost hear the stillness, and if 
a leaf rustled it sounded like the jaguar ready to spring. I 
was armed only with a trusty umbrella, haying left even 
