FOREST BIRDS. 



77 



but in the centre of the torrid zone, — not in one of 

 the West India islands, but upon a vast continent, 

 where the mountains, the rivers, the mass of vege- 

 tation, and every thing else are gigantic. If he be 

 sensible to the beauties of rural scenery, he finds it 

 difficult to account to himself for the diversified 

 feelings which he experiences : he is unable to de- 

 termine what most excites his admiration ; whether 

 the solemn silence of the wilderness, or the indi- 

 vidual beauty and contrast of the forms, or the vigour 

 and freshness of vegetable life, that characterize the 

 climate of the tropics. It might be said that the 

 earth, overloaded with plants, does not leave them 

 room enough for growth. The trunks of the trees 

 are everywhere covered with a thick carpet of ver- 

 dure ; and were the orchideae and the plants of the 

 genera piper and pothos, which grow upon a single 

 courbaril or American fig-tree, transferred to the 

 ground, they would cover a large space. By this 

 singular denseness of vegetation, the forests, like 

 the rocks and mountains, enlarge the domain of or- 

 ganic nature. The same lianas which creep along 

 the ground rise to the tops of the trees, and pass 

 from the one to the other at a height of more than 

 a hundred feet. In consequence of this intermixture 

 of parasitic plants, the botanist is often led to con- 

 found the flowers, fruits, and foliage which belong 

 to different species." 



The philosophers walked for some hours under 

 the shade of these arches, which scarcely admitted 

 an occasional glimpse of the clear blue sky, and for 

 the first time admired the pendulous nests of the 

 orioles, which mingled their warblings with the cries 

 of the parrots and macaws. The latter fly only in 

 pairs, while the former are seen in flocks of several 

 hundreds. At the distance of about a league from 

 the village of San Fernando, they issued from the 

 woods, and entered an open country, covered with 

 aquatic plants from eight to ten feet high; there 

 G 2 



