IN THE CINCHONA FORESTS 277 
recesses of the forest, they were sought out and cropped by the 
starving animals. After the bamboo above spoken of, the Arrow- 
cane {Gy?ierium saccharoides) is the most notable grass, and 
forms considerable beds, especially near streams. This species 
is abundant enough on low shores and islands of the Amazon, 
but it has nowhere spread far from the river-bank, nor (so far as 
I can ascertain) is it found wild on any of the tributaries of that 
river, but those which rise in the Andes. . . . Even on the 
Amazon it looks dwindled, and rarely exceeds 18 or 20 feet high ; 
but on reaching the roots of the Andes of Maynas, one begins to 
see this noble grass in its true proportions. ... It attains its 
maximum of development on stony springy declivities, at an 
elevation of about 1500 feet above the sea, where a forest of 
Arrow-cane, with its tall slender stems of 30 to 40 feet, each 
supporting a fan-shaped coma of distichous leaves, and a long- 
stalked thyrse of rose and silver flowers waving in the wind, is 
truly a grand sight. The longest stem I ever measured was one 
I met a man carrying on his shoulder at Tarapoto. From that 
stem had been cut away the leaves and peduncle, and the base 
of the stem, which is generally beset by stout-arched exserted 
roots (serving as buttresses), to a height of i to 3 feet ; yet the 
residue was 37 feet long, so that the entire length must have been 
at least 45 feet. 
The other grasses accompanying the Red Bark comprise 
several of those rampant forest Panica which thread among 
adjacent branches to a height of 15 feet or more. The long 
internodes serve as tubes for tobacco pipes and for other similar 
uses. There are also two broad-leaved Gamalotes of the same 
genus. Of grasses frequent in the hot plains I noted only 
Dactyloctenium Aigyptiacum and Paspahmi conjugatum. 
Cyperacece, i. — This order is scarce, both in individuals and 
species. The half-dozen species observed belong chiefly to 
Scleria and Isolepis. 
Arace(E^ 4. — As abundant and varied as in the forests of 
the plains. An arborescent species, called Casimin by the 
inhabitants, grows everywhere, even on hills where there is little 
moisture. The stems reach 10 feet, and are sometimes thicker 
than the thigh, though so soft that a very slight stroke of a 
cutlass suffices to sever them. The small spathes are fascicled 
in the axils of the leaves, but of all that I opened the contents 
were so injured by earwigs and other insects that it was impos- 
sible to ascertain the structure of the flowers. . . . Species of 
Anthurium and Philodendron are frequent, and their deeply-cloven 
or perforated leaves often assume grotesque forms. One very 
beautiful climbing Aroidea, with shaggy petioles and leaves 
streaked with deep violet above, purple beneath, I could never 
find in flower. 
