i] FIRST IMPRESSIONS IN THE FOREST 



as it does, struggling for light and air in the company of its fellows. 

 Thus the enormous height of the trunk is a direct consequence of 

 the number of other trees in its vicinity competing for the ground 

 on a restricted area, each individual striving to outgrow its neigh- 

 bours in order to place its foliage in the best possible conditions. 

 As long as these giants of the vegetable world are associated in 

 large numbers so as to form a forest, they prop each other up recipro- 

 cally and have good stability. But as soon as a forest tree is isolated 

 by the destruction of those which grew around it, it cannot long 

 resist the violence of the winds, and is soon mutilated and perishes. 

 In the forest the roots of the trees are also in a peculiar condition 

 of existence, so that they are unable to withstand the destruction 

 of the surrounding timber. The soil, which before was always damp 

 and shady, becomes abruptly exposed to great variations both 

 in temperature and moisture. Moreover, on account of the thick 

 stratum of rich humus which forms the surface layer of the primeval 

 forest, the roots of the trees grow out superficially instead of down- 

 wards. This circumstance, which on the one hand must have con- 

 tributed to the formation of the basal buttress-like expansions of 

 the trunks, explains on the other how isolated trees can easily be 

 overthrown by the wind, owing to the absence of deep roots. 



I was impatient to see something of the country, and the morning 

 after our arrival, followed by a few native lads, I took my way 

 along the path I have mentioned which led directly into the forest — 

 a dense assemblage of trees, some gigantic in size, some slender, 

 cylindrical, and devoid of branches to a considerable height. Their 

 foliage high up, compactly united, formed a dense green vault, 

 occasionally pierced by a stray sunbeam, marking its way across 

 the hot, damp air. Lesser plants and bushes, of many kinds and 

 varied aspect, struggled below for air and light amidst the bigger 

 trees. The ground was covered by an intricate and confused mass of 

 branches and fallen trunks of aged trees, decayed and enveloped 

 with mosses ; and a host of plants, all new to me. Not a single 

 stone did I see uncovered. The fallen leaves heaped together 

 formed a thick layer, which decomposition converts into a rich leaf- 

 mould wherein other plants flourish in the shade caused by the larger 

 ones. It hardly required any botanical experience to recognise a few 

 palms in the multiform vegetable crowd surrounding me. Of these 

 some had fan-like leaves (Licuala), and others showed elegant pin- 

 nated fronds, springing from a long and slender trunk (Pinanga). 

 But few gaudy flowers indeed were to be seen ; only here and there 

 a solitary Ixora ventured to colour with its deep red blossoms the 

 pervading dark green of the forest. The big aroids, Freycinetias, 

 and Pandani with long, hanging leaves, together with ferns, orchids 

 and hosts of epiphytes which it is impossible to enumerate, find 

 ways and means of existence, as exiles from the soil, high up in the 



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