180 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



gloom, the effect of which is enhanced by the 

 solemn silence. At first such a forest gives 

 the impression of being more open than an 

 English wood, but a few steps are sufficient 

 to correct this error. There is a thick under- 

 growth matted together by wiry creepers, and 

 the intermediate space is traversed in all 

 directions by lines and cords. 



The English traveller misses sadly the 

 sweet songs of our birds, which are replaced 

 by the hoarse chatter of parrots. Now and 

 then a succession of cries even harsher and 

 more discordant tell of a troop of monkeys 

 passing across from tree to tree among the 

 higher branches, or lower sounds indicate to 

 a practised ear the neighbourhood of an ape, 

 a sloth, or some other of the few mammals 

 which inhabit the great forests. Occasionally 

 a large blue bee hums past, a brilliant butter- 

 fly flashes across the path, or a humming-bird 

 hangs in the air over a flower like, as St. 

 Pierre says, an emerald set in coral, but 

 "how weak it is to say that that exquisite 

 little being, whirring and fluttering in the air, 

 has a head of ruby, a throat of emerald, and 



