Tropical Forests 
An isolated mountain range will be forest-clad 
towards its base; above there is a cloud-zone where 
different conditions prevail, and on the exposed ridges 
and peaks of the summit there may be a temperate and 
even a kind of “alpine” flora, 
Where the wind can sweep freely across an open 
plateau or a country only gently undulating, there is 
nothing like the abundant rainfall or the continually 
moist atmosphere which characterises the true wet- 
jungle. It is this which we must try, somehow, to 
describe, but it is an exceedingly difficult undertaking. 
As we have shown elsewhere, there are at least four or 
possibly five main “ stories” of leaf surface. The foliage 
canopy of the tall trees is far above one’s head and looks 
black against the sky. Then there are dense masses of 
creeper foliage ; below these again are young, aspiring 
trees; nearer the ground there are shrubs and herbaceous 
plants, and on the ground itself there may be mosses, 
ferns, or herbaceous plants. But the eyes are bewildered 
by the confusion of foliages, of flowers and leaves in- 
extricably mixed. Mosses, Selaginellas, climbing figs, 
Peperomias, and Arums mingle with orchids, Brome- 
liads, and a great variety of epiphytic ferns and the like. 
But the traveller is proceeding slowly along a small 
winding footpath and can see very little except this 
tangle of exuberant vegetation. It is dark, dank, and 
mysterious, and the atmosphere is that of a hothouse, 
Here and there he finds great flowers like Gardenias, 
flaming Labiates, and quantities of Acanthacez and 
Rubiacez. The weird knotted cables or windings and 
coils of the lianas or creepers cannot fail to impress him, 
As a rule the forest is exceedingly lonely and mysteri- 
ously quiet. Very seldom does he catch sight of either 
bird or beast. Now and then, perhaps, a crowd of 
gorgeously coloured and stately butterflies will be 
drinking eagerly from some noisome pool or objection- 
318 
