3 72 CELEBES. [chap. xvi. 



gloomy fissures, — not one single spot of bright colour 

 could be seen, not one single tree or bush or creeper 

 bore a flower sufficiently conspicuous to form an object 

 in the landscape. In every direction the eye rested on 

 green foliage and mottled rock. There was infinite variety 

 in the colour and aspect of the foliage, there was grandeur 

 in the rocky masses and in the exuberant luxuriance of 

 the vegetation, but there was no brilliancy of colour, none 

 of those bright flowers and gorgeous masses of blossom, 

 so generally considered to be everywhere present in the 

 tropics. I have here given an accurate sketch of a luxu- 

 riant tropical scene as noted down on the spot, and its 

 general characteristics as regards colour have been so often 

 repeated, both in South America and over many thousand 

 miles in the Eastern tropics, that I am driven to conclude 

 that it represents the general aspect of nature in the 

 equatorial (that is, the most tropical) parts of the tropical 

 regions. How is it then, that the descriptions of travellers 

 generally give a very different idea ? and where, it may be 

 asked, are the glorious flowers that we know do exist in 

 the tropics? These questions can be easily answered. 

 The fine tropical flowering-plants cultivated in our hot- 

 houses, have been culled from the most varied regions, 

 and therefore give a most erroneous idea of their abun- 

 dance in any one region. Many of them are very rare, 

 others extremely local, while a considerable number 



