: A. Fendler on Prairies. 155 
but also the beginning and the different stages of the conversion 
of an almost impenetrable primeval forest into a savannah. 
_ I cite the following facts, observed by myself at Colonia Tovar 
in Venezuela, from an account in the Smithsonian Report for 
1857, pages 186-188. 
spot of about half a mile in length and a quarter of a mile in width, 
which forms a kind of shallow basin, only sparingly covered* by a thin 
ek * % 
uprooted by a whirlwind, scarcely showing any marks of fire on their 
trunks. Iwas struck more than ever with the easy manner in which 
high trees, becomes d y. Subsequent conflagrations of adjacent savan- 
Rahs, which are intentionally set on fire to procure a new grow mn 
Young grass, take hold of the reeds of the _— einer a : 
ted at of these fires, the roots of the reeds can stand It p ales 
: and the smaller grasses, interspersed with a few other plants, take pie 
Gee avast 
