28 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA, 



As the ground rises towards the interior, the savannas become clothed with 

 various grasses and leguminous plants analogous to those of the European meadows. 

 Pale green during the rainy season, they assume a russet or a yellowish garb in 

 summer ; but they are for the most part destitute of floweriug species. ïhej^ 

 nowhere array themselves in bright colours, nor do they emit the fragrance pecu- 

 liar to the flowery meads of w^est Europe. But what they chiefly need is the aid of 

 man in developing a more extensive growth of alimentary plants. From the re- 

 sults of the few agricultural clearings that have been made, especially for fodder 

 crops, some idea may be formed of the natural fertility of these regions. 



With few exceptions, the inhabitants contribute little to modify the flora of 

 the savannas beyond the rough-and-ready process of firing the withered grasses in 

 the summer season. The object of these conflagrations is merely to collect a few 

 turtles amid the embers No attempt is made to improve the pastures, and on 

 the high lands beyond the alluvial tracts, the fires have in many places consumed 

 plants, roots and all, down to the sandy subsoil. A few arid heights, whose under- 

 ground recesses are the resort of huge lizards, have already here and there assumed 

 somewhat the aspect of sandhills. The fire, under the influence of the winds, is 

 at times propagated with great rapidity, but as a rule it spreads much slower than 

 in the Algerian bush or on the prairies of the Far West in North America. The 

 plants, containing more moisture, are less inflammable, and the conflagration is 

 usuallv arrested on the verge of the forests after devouring a few of the more 

 exposed trees. Even in the savanna itself it spares the verdant clusters which 

 are formed round abuut the springs, and which aflbrd cover to the animals during 

 the summer heats. 



The Guiana forests, which on the eastern slopes occupy by far the greatest 

 part of the whole region, belong to the Amazonian botanical world. Nearly all 

 the species of the selca are represented in the Guiana woodlands, which neverthe- 

 less form but a relatively small division of the continent. 



Instead of monotonous forests consisting mainly of one or two sociable 

 plants, such as thi; European or North American pine, spruce, oak, or beech groves, 

 this region possesses a vegetable world characterised by the prodigious variety 

 of its forms. French Guiana alone presents as many as 260 f(jrest species, that 

 is to say, 10 times more than are found in France itself. 



The marine current setting from Cape S. Roque along the Brazilian sea- 

 board round to the Guianas certainly contributes its share to the distribution of 

 the southern forms by the seeds, fruits, and branches which it casts up along the 

 seaboard. But all the vegetable treasures of Guiana are still but approximately 

 known, some regions not having yet been visited hy any naturalists. 



Nevertheless, the itineraries followed by botanists already cover most of the 

 ground. In 1872, Grisebach estimated at 3,500 the number of species described 

 up to that date. The most widespread families are those of the leguminous type, 

 which represent about a ninth part of all the local forms. Next to them the most 

 numerous are the ferns and orchids. The palms, of which as many as 30 varie- 

 ties occur in French Guiana alone, comprise about the hundredth part of the 



