14 
WONDERS OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS. 
so isolated in the wood, that one rarely sees two alike on 
tlie same spot. Each, is sun'ounded hy strangers lliat 
begrudge it the necessary space and air; and where so 
many thousand forms of equal pretensions vie for the 
possession of the soil, none is able to expand ita crown 
or extend its branches at full liberty, llence there is a 
universal tendency upwards ; for it is only Ijy ovt'iloppiupf 
its neighbours that each tree can attain the region of 
freedom and of light j and hence also the crowns borne 
alof^ on those high columnar trunks are comparatively 
smalL Shootiug up straight and tall in this general 
struggle, thpy present no fantastic branches, no project- 
ing limbs, like the sturdy oaks of our forests, and each, 
supported by the surrounding crowd, loses depth and 
tenacity of root. They may partly be compared to a 
body of niilitaiy : the storm may rage, the lightning 
blast, the earthqnake shake, and though many fall, the 
body at large scarcely feels the loss. Separate tliem and 
they will be found far inferior in power to the wild 
warrior, who, accustomed to stand alone, trusts to his 
own strength and dexterity to bear him through tlie 
worst storms of fate. 
Among the trees the various kinds that have buttresses 
projecting around their base are the most striking and 
peculiar. Some of tliese buttresses are much longer than 
they are high, springing froni a distance of eight or ten feet 
from the base, and reaching only four or live feet high on 
the trunk; while others rise to the height of twenty or 
thirty feet, and can even be distinguished as ribs on the 
stem to forty or fifty. They ore complete wooden walls from 
sis inches to a foot thick, sometimes branching iuto two 
or three, and extending straight out to such a distance 
as to afford room for a comfortable hut in the angle 
between them. Other trees again appeal* as if they were 
foru^ed by a number of slender stems growing together. 
They are ileeply furrowed for their whole height, like the 
pillars in a cathedral, and in places these furrows reach 
