172 
The First Clusters of Tree-Fern. 
the extensive boughs of which were almost completely covered with the 
dependent Cerens as wx41 as with a motley intricacy of immense 
TiUandsiae, Orchids, and Ferns, while countless creepers and rope-vines, 
from the thickness of an arm to that of a liuman body, running up their 
trunks like ropes in odd sorts of twists and tangles, wound themselves 
from brancli to branch whence they either ran straight down or hung in 
rings and loops and changed the forest into a fairy grove. Thei further 
we went, the riclier and more varied l)ecanie the vegetation. An impres- 
sion only just received would be dispelled a minute later, Imt my de- 
lighted astonishment reached its climax when out of a confusion of 
grasses witW tree-like blades. Zinr/ihrrncrar, and Musarrae, T happened 
to come upon the first clusters of tieo-fern. the fairy-like Cijafhea and 
AlsopJn'ln. No plant had so far awakened such a peculiar sensation, or 
aroused such deep enthusiasm in me: no. not even tlie sight of the first 
palms, not even the vegetation with its anomalous forms of flower and 
infinite charm of colour, that T had so unexpectedly lighted upon this 
day. From the IS to 20 ft. high trunk, its long delieate feather-slit fronds 
ilient over to the ground in gi-aceful arches and so formecl the loveliest 
vault : a peculiarity which particularly in the case of tlie Cfi/afliea led to 
til is fairy-like canopy being set in gracefnl swaying motion with the 
slightest lireatli of air. The AUophlhir also proved to l;e new species: 
'AlffopJiila oWoufin Klotzsch. and AhophiJa (/ihhof^o Klotzsch. 
411. After crossing this fairy forest for some considerable time on 
fairly level country, the path suddenly assumed a character the very oppo- 
site. It made its way down steep ravines, and from their depths out 
again up similar ones, where the crawling tree-roots and almost impene- 
trable forest plants and creepers contested our right to every step : each 
height, so soon as we had mastered it, was greeted by the Indians' with 
a shout of joy, although it remained doubtful whether this expression of 
feeling ought not to indicate greeting of some new gulley gaping at our 
feet. The track again followed a course down into the very depths to 
the small mountain streams which, with their crystal rip]des, hurried over 
the sandy ground, when all the troul>le, labour, sw^eat, and heavy breath- 
ing would commence afresh. We had only just climbed the steep rise of 
another such ravine when tlie brighter verdure, together with the sun 
stealthily shining through tlie dense foliage of the gloomy forest, showed 
that we had reached its opi)osite edge: before we could get out of it we 
still had to force our way through a thick mass of fern {Mrrtemia 
piiljesccns Willd. ) entwined and entangled with innumerable creepers 
whicli to our great relief enclosed a large cassava field for, even though 
the roots had not yet reached maturity, it indicated the pi-oximity of a set- 
tlement. We crossed the plantation with lighter hearts, then up a steep 
])it of rising ground, and there deep down below us in the valley stood 
the fi-iendly and welcome houses of Hnmeseta village. Picturesque 
mountains towered up again in front of us in the N.N.W. and N.E. : 
mountains of which Apama])o and Mukuripa were pointed out to us in 
the North, Pa Epping (Frog Mountain) in the W., with Camarazin and 
rarimamparu in the N.W. Never before, nor since, have I seen such a 
beautiful display of Nature as was now once more unfolded before my 
eyes, an effect to which both the organic and inorganic world were 
