PAN DE AZUCAR 85 



entangled in their painful grasp that without 

 aid movement in any direction was impossible. 

 Throughout this mass of vegetation along the base 

 of the mountains (and up for a short distance) 

 Celtis aculeata, a small tree with short stout spines, 

 is always encountered, and one must constantly 

 be on guard against grasping this tree for support. 

 Among the wilderness of vines, the spineless 

 Pithecoctenium aubletii binds the forest in every 

 direction and is ably assisted by another spineless 

 creeper, with stems of rope-like strength (a Chio- 

 cocca), which often makes a tangle defying pene- 

 tration. These lianes catch one's feet, bind one's 

 arms, or encircle one's neck in the most exasperat- 

 ing way. Another, and one of the most curious of 

 all the creepers, occasionally met in such stations, 

 is the Bauhinia heterophylla. The stem of this 

 luxuriant plant is fiat and so moulded as to re- 

 semble a heavy anchor chain. These ponderous 

 "chains" lie along the ground, sometimes twisting 

 one about another and finally ascending out of 

 sight in the foliage of the highest trees. It pos- 

 sesses bilobed leaves disposed in pairs, each leaf- 

 let separate. Everywhere is a mixed assemblage 

 of tropical trees that cannot at once be determined 



