208 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



that was eatable devoured, and the remainder thrown aside, the 

 bushes which covered the ground so luxuriantly were torn up by 

 the roots, and used or thrown aside in the same manner, grass and 

 plants were trodden under foot. What the first comers left fell 

 to those behind, and thus arose a passable road often stretching 

 deep into the heart of the forest. Other animals have taken advan- 

 tage of it, treading it down more thoroughly, and keeping it in 

 passable condition. By it the hippopotamus makes his way at night 

 when he tramps from the river to feed in the woods; the rhinoceros 

 uses it as he comes from the forest to drink; by it the raging buffalo 

 descends to the valley and returns to the heights; along it the lion 

 strides through his territory; and there one may meet the leopard, 

 the hyaena, and other wild beasts of the forest. We set foot on it, 

 and press forwards. 



After a few steps the magnificent forest surrounds us on all 

 sides. But, here also, it seems in vaia to attempt to unravel the 

 confusion of stems and branches, twigs and shoots, tendrils and 

 leaves. The forest hems in such a path on both sides like a wall. 

 The ground is everywhere covered with thickly-matted bushes, 

 which one cannot even see through; but, struggling through these, 

 all sorts of grasses have sprung up, forming a second undergrowth; 

 just above that, tall -stemmed bushes and low trees spread their 

 branches on all sides; over these again rise taller trees, and above 

 them all tower the giants of the forest. By far the greater number 

 of bushes in the undergrowth are thickly covered with thorns, 

 while the mimosas towering above them are armed with long, hard, 

 sharp spines, and even the grasses have burr-like seed-capsules 

 covered with fine prickles, or ears set with sharp hooks, so that 

 every attempt to penetrate the forest from the path is foiled by a 

 thousand obstacles. The bird the huntsman's gun has brought 

 down is lost to him because in falling it is caught in a bush 

 which he cannot reach without an amount of exertion quite out 

 of proportion to the object; the game which conceals itself in a 

 shrub before our very eyes is saved because we can no longer per- 

 ceive it; a crocodile about three yards long, which we startled in 

 the wood, escapes us by withdrawing itself into an isolated bush so 



