THE EQUATORIAL FORESTS 49 
green colour to a rich rosy brown. Up among 
the palm-leaves sat perched two or three species 
of Nephrolepis, with pendulous long riband- like 
fronds. I have seen in the Andes fern-valleys 
far more picturesque, with the adjuncts of moss- 
grown rocks and cataracts ; but I do not think I 
have anywhere found more species growing to- 
gether, within a small space, than in these palm- 
swamps at Tauaii. 
Other valleys, with a moist (but not swampy) 
soil, which emitted a dank, disagreeable odour, 
were occupied chiefly by the Carana {Mauritia 
amleata), a fan-leaved palm with prickly stems ; 
and ferns were all but absent. 
Although we were in the height of the dry season, 
a day rarely passed over without rain — usually a 
smart thunderstorm, beginning a few hours after 
the sun had passed the meridian. It did not often 
rain by night, but one night we had a violent 
storm lasting several hours. The explosions 
kept up a continuous roll, and one vivid flash was 
accompanied by a crash so tremendous that I 
thought it must surely have struck the house, 
which shook to its very foundations. It was not 
so, but when I opened the window in the morn- 
ing, I saw a tall Coco palm only a few yards away, 
standing without its head, which lay shattered on 
the ground. 
This rain brought out multitudes of toads and 
frogs ; and in walking through the forest the 
following morning after the sun broke forth we 
came on a huge toad, nearly as big as a man's 
head, enjoying a tranquil sitz-bath in a pool of 
water in the road. I knew not till then of the 
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