6 



PARA 



or were suspended in the form of cords and ribbons ; whilst 

 luxuriant creeping plants overran alike tree-trunks, roofs 

 and walls, or toppled over palings in copious profusion 

 of foliage. The superb banana (Musa paradisiaca), of 

 which I had always read as forming one of the charms 

 of tropical vegetation, here grew with great luxuriance : 

 its glossy velvety-green leaves, twelve feet in length, 

 curving over the roofs of verandahs in the rear of every 

 house. The shape of the leaves, the varying shades of 

 green which they present when lightly moved by the 

 wind, and especially the contrast they afford in colour 

 and form to the more sombre hues and more rounded 

 outline of the other trees, are quite sufficient to account 

 for the charm of this glorious tree. Strange forms of 

 vegetation drew our attention at almost every step. 

 Amongst them were the different kinds of Bromelia, or 

 pine-apple plants, with their long, rigid, sword-shaped 

 leaves, in some species jagged or toothed along their 

 edges. Then there was the bread-fruit tree — an impor- 

 tation, it is true ; but remarkable from its large, glossy, 

 dark green, strongly digitated foliage, and its interesting 

 history. Many other trees and plants, curious in leaf, 

 stem, or manner of growth, grew^ on the borders of the 

 thickets along v/hich lay our road ; they were all at- 

 tractive to new comers, whose last country ramble of 

 quite recent date was over the bleak moors of Derbyshire 

 on a sleety morning in April. 



As we continued our walk the brief twilight commenced, 

 and the sounds of multifarious life came from the vegeta- 

 tion around. The whirring of cicadas ; the shrill stridu- 

 lation of a vast number and variety of field crickets and 

 grasshoppers — each species sounding its peculiar note ; 

 the plaintive hooting of tree frogs, all blended together 

 in one continuous ringing sound — the audible expression 

 of the teeming profusion of Nature. As night came on, 

 many species of frogs and toads in the marshy places 

 joined in the chorus : their croaking and drumming, far 

 louder than anything I had before heard in the same 

 line, being added to the other noises, created an almost 

 deafening din. This uproar of life, I afterwards found, 

 never wholly ceased, night or day : in course of time I 

 became, like other residents, accustomed to it. It is, 

 however, one of the peculiarities of a tropical — at least, 

 a Brazilian — climate which is most likely to surpriseja 



