THE EQUATORIAL FORESTS 47 
allies the Musae or plantains, but their flower-spikes 
garnished with showy scarlet bracts ; various species 
of Maranta, Alpinia, Thalia, etc., all having foliage 
approaching that of the Cannae now so much culti- 
vated in our gardens ; two or three species of 
Costus, looking like gigantic spiderworts, etc. A 
sure evidence of a patch of forest being not primi- 
tive but of recent growth, and especially of the 
ground having been at one time devoted to 
mandiocca, is a carpet of lively green, arising from 
a compact growth of Selaginella Parkeri. 
Nor must we omit to mention the roots that 
creep and cross each other everywhere along the 
ground, or rise above it in buttresses, arches, or 
loops, which must be climbed over or under ; nor 
the huge, rotting, reeking trunks — corpses of fallen 
giants of the forest — partly overrun with mosses, 
ferns, and lianas. Sometimes a prostrate trunk 
appears still sound — even the bark is entire — yet 
it has already been excavated by the voracious 
termite, so that it yields with a crash when stepped 
upon, probably prostrating the traveller, and not 
infrequently disturbing the repose of the snake or 
toad which has taken up its abode in the cavity. 
Fern- Valleys 
In traversing the forests of Tauau, we here and 
there came unexpectedly on a ravine, stony at the 
sides, marshy at the bottom, and in some places 
opening out into a valley, but with no stream of 
running water. These ravines were perfect fern- 
gardens. On the stony slopes grew lofty exo- 
genous trees, with a ground-vegetation of several 
