AMAZONIAN VEGETATION 355 
which spring up to replace the Primitive Forests 
destroyed by man, and, notwithstanding their 
weedy character, consist chiefly of shrubs and trees ; 
a fifth in the savannas or campos — grassy or 
scrubby knolls, or glades, or hollows (dried -up 
lakes), which bear a very small proportion indeed 
to the vast extent of w^oodland in the Amazon 
valley proper, but towards its northern and southern 
borders compete with the woods for the possession 
of the ground, and in the centre of Venezuela enlarge 
to interminable grassy llanos or plains. 
From an elevated site that should embrace the 
landscape on all sides to the extreme limit of vision, 
as, for instance, from the heights at the confluence 
of the Rio Negro and Amazon, or, better still, from 
one of the steep granite rocks that overlook the 
noble forests of the Casiquiari, a practised eye would 
distinguish the various kinds of forest by their 
aspect alone. The Virgin Forests are distinct 
enough by the sombre foliage of the densely-packed, 
lofty trees, out of which stand, like the cupolas, 
spires, and turrets of a large city, the dome-shaped 
or pyramidal or flat-topped crowns of still loftier 
trees, overtopping even the tallest palms, both palms 
and trees being more or less interwoven with stout, 
gaily-flowering lianas ; the White Forests by the 
low, neat-growing, and thinly-set trees and bushes, 
with scarcely any lianas — the Palms few, but 
peculiar, and often odd-looking — on a near view 
by the greater abundance of Ferns, especially on 
the trees, and sometimes of terrestrial Aroids and 
Cyclanths ; the Recent Forests by their low, irregular, 
tangled growth, paler foliage, and general weedy 
aspect ; the Riparial Forests, even where the water 
