AMONG PAPUAN PEAKS 
strange magnificence, particularly the mountain Pan- 
danus, with its aerial roots, which cover an immense 
space and all converge into one stem 60 feet above 
the ground, whence the trunk runs up perfectly 
straight. Around us'everywhere were also tree ferns, 
some of them rising to 30 feet in height, and besides 
these there were the enormous Lycopodiums with 
leaves 10 feet long. These luxuriant forms of vege- 
tation were thickly clustered upon the trees, and some 
of the masses must have been of enormous weight. 
They displayed a glorious profusion of scarlet, which 
had taken full possession of its supporting tree, for 
far above the domed mass of this superb parasite one 
could see occasionally large clusters of brilliant 
blossom here and there. More humble, but still very 
beautiful, was a little fern, similar to our Parsley Fern, 
which was distinguished by an exquisite iridescent 
blue all over the upper side of the leaf, while on the 
under side those fronds that were in seed showed a 
most brilliant golden yellow. Parrots great and small 
flashed about us, and now and then we caught a glimpse 
of the white cockatoo with the yellow crest that is 
found all over New Guinea. As we passed among 
the feathered colony, all these birds set up a 
tremendous screeching. The cockatoo, as I had 
occasion to know at a later period, can, when 
wounded, bite most cruelly. Of animals we saw little, 
for the inhabitants of this region are mostly arboreal 
and nocturnal. ‘There are several species of the 
smaller animals, including the tree kangaroo, of which 
I wished I could have secured some specimens. ‘These 
are born very imperfect, and are placed in the pouch ; 
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