254 THE ADVENTURES OF 



taken possession of the load, and Sumichrast commenced cutting 

 the creepers in order to open a path. I relieved him every now 

 and then in this hard work, and Lucien availed himself of the 

 moments when we stopped for breath to have a cut at the great 

 vegetable screen which nature places at the entrance of virgin 

 forests, as if to show that there is within it an unknown world to 

 conquer. Unfortunately, the small height of the boy rendered 

 his work useless ; but he at least evinced a desire to take his part 

 of the labour. At last, the thick wall of vegetable growth was 

 passed, and we found ourselves in a semi-obscurity, caused by 

 the shade of gigantic trees. 



" Are we now in a virgin forest ? " asked Lucien. 



" No ; for we are only just entering it," I replied. 



" But the ground is so bare ; there are no more creepers, and 

 the trees look as if they were arranged in lines.'' 



" What did you expect to meet with % " 



" Plants all entangled together, birds, monkeys, and tigers." 



" Your ideal menagerie will, perhaps, make its appearance 

 subsequently. As for the entangled plants, if the whole forest 

 was full of them, it would be absolutely impenetrable. The soil 

 is bare because the trees are so bushy that no rays of the sun can 

 penetrate, and many plants wither and die in the shade; but 

 whenever we come upon a glade, you will find the earth covered 

 with grass and shrubs.'' 



" Then the forests of the Terre Temperie are more beautiful 

 than those of the Terre Chaude ? " 



" You judge too hastily," replied Sumichrast ; " wait till our 

 path leads along the edge of some stream." 



" All right," muttered the boy, shaking his head and turning 

 towards his friend ; " the woods we have gone through are much 

 more pleasant. It is so silent and the boughs are so high that 

 we might fancy we were in a church." 



The boy's remark was far from incorrect. The dark arches of 

 the intersecting branches, the black soil formed by the accumu- 

 lated vegetable dehis of perhaps five or six thousand years, the 

 dim obscurity scarcely penetrated by the sunlight making its way 

 through the dark foliage — all combined to imbue the mind with 



