194 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



disagreeable feeling of being more alive than leaves 

 ought to be. They have a yielding, uncanny feel 

 to the touch and one instinctively avoids them, with 

 a vague sort of apprehension that they might 

 enfold and smother one in a cold clammy embrace. 

 It would take a botanist years of study to conquer 

 such a flora — such an appalling array of vegeta- 

 tion. Before it, one stands humbled and rever- 

 ent; within it, one feels a sense of awe; one calls 

 to his companion and says *'let us keep together.** 

 Showers continued to fall and many large hori- 

 zontal leaves poured little cascades upon us as we 

 disturbed them. Between showers, the air grew 

 hot and steamy, and the mosquitoes charged in 

 swarms and clouds. Under foot, the way is ex- 

 ceedingly rough and beset with holes and pitfalls 

 in the spongy-looking limestone. Throughout 

 the forest there appeared to be a wealth of 

 animal life. Insects abounded, particularly about 

 the edges of the woods or in any semi-open 

 spot where some great tree had fallen crash- 

 ing through the jungle and opening a space for 

 the light above to flood in. Land-shells, now in 

 full activity, crawled about the tree trunks and 

 the stems of bushes or upon the broad palmate 



