FIRST VIEW OF A TROPICAL FOREST. 



33 



I was about cutting, off a specimen, the people, who 

 here seemed very friendly, rushed out of the nearest 

 house and vociferated in warning tones, " Mata ! 

 mata ! " I was afterwards assured that the fruit is 

 here considered a deadly poison. It appears to be 

 one of the rather numerous varieties of Solanum 

 mammosum, a species widely spread through the 

 hotter parts of America. 



Being warned not to go out of hearing of the steam- 

 whistle that was to summon us back to the ship, I 

 was obliged to content myself with three short inroads 

 into the forest, through which numerous paths had 

 been cleared. The first effect was perfectly bewilder- 

 ing. The variety of new forms of vegetation sur- 

 rounding one on every side was simply distracting. 

 Of the larger trees I could, indeed, make out nothing, 

 but the smaller trees and shrubs, crowded together 

 wherever they could reach the daylight, were more 

 than enough to occupy the too short moments. 



Of the general character of the climate there could 

 be no doubt. In spite of the blazing sun, with a 

 shade temperature of about 85° Fahr., the ground was 

 everywhere moist. Ferns and Selaginellcz met the 

 eye at eveiy turn, with numerous CyperacecB ; and in 

 an open spot, among a crowd of less familiar forms, 

 I found a minute Utricularia, scarcely an inch in 

 height. But the predominant feature, and that which 

 interested me most keenly, was the abundance and 

 vs.ri&ty oi MelastomacecB. Within the first ten minutes 

 I had gathered specimens of seven species, all of 

 them but one large shrubs. Of the climbers and 

 parasites that give its most distinctive features to the 



D 



