96 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
and bend them forward in the direction of one's 
route ; and this is especially necessary when there 
are several persons in company, and the turning of 
a large tree may completely hide the leader from 
view, although only a few paces ahead. In the 
excitement of gathering new plants, or of the chase 
of wild animals, one often forgets to mark the way 
properly ; and it has several times happened to 
myself, when deep in the forest and quite alone, to 
be unable to find my track when I wished to return 
along it. It is a rather painful moment when one 
becomes convinced that the way is irrecoverably 
lost, and stouter nerves than mine would probably 
not be entirely unmoved by it. There are no trees 
all leaning over in the direction of prevailing winds, 
no mossy side to the trunks, as in the forests of 
the temperate zones. My plan has been to sit 
down and patiently watch the sun through the 
tree-tops until I ascertained his course ; then to 
calculate carefully my own course therefrom, and 
to follow it unswervingly ; by which means I have 
always come out safely. A pocket-compass is no 
doubt a very good companion in such emergencies, 
but it requires to be carried in a waterproof case 
or pouch, for the bush is almost constantly wet, 
however clear the sky may be overhead. 
To return to my narrative. As my main object 
had been to reach the mountain, I did not delay 
our progress by herborising much on the way, and 
I gathered only two plants worth noting ; the one 
an anomalous plant, allied to Ebenads, which Mr. 
Bentham has proposed as a new genus, under the 
name of Brachynema ramiflorum. It is a small 
