A JUNGLE BEACH 99 
with reasonable foliage and normal trunks, and 
suddenly I stepped down over the Edge. Over- 
head and all around there was still the foliage. 
It shut out the sun except for greenish, moder- 
ated spots and beams. The branches dipped low 
in front over the water, shutting out the sky ex- 
cept along the tops of the cross-river jungle. 
Thus a great green-roofed chamber was formed; 
and here, between jungle and the water-level of 
the world, was the Kingdom of the Roots, 
Great trees had in their youth fallen far for- 
ward, undermined by the water, then slowly 
taken a new reach upward and stretched forth 
great feet and hands of roots, palms pressing 
against the mud, curved backs and thews of shoul- 
ders braced against one another and the drag 
of the tides. Little by little the old prostrate 
trunks were entirely obliterated by this fantastic 
network. There were no fine fibers or rootlets 
here; only great beams and buttresses, bridges 
and up-ended spirals, grown together or spread- 
ing wide apart. Root merged with trunk, and 
great boles became roots and then boles again in 
this unreasonable land. For here, in place of 
damp, black mold and soil, water alternated with 
dark-shadowed air; and so I was able for a time 
