JUNGLES ON FIRE. 
3 
before they left Serinagur, where it was our inten- 
tion to make our final halt. As we advanced, the sky 
appeared to be tinged with a deep dingy red, and, upon 
suddenly emerging from a narrow glen, to our asto- 
nishment the distant mountains seemed to be in a 
blaze. The fire swept up their sides to the extent of 
several miles, undulating like the agitated waves of 
the ocean when reddened by the slanting beams of 
the setting sun. It was like an ignited sea, exhibit- 
ing an effect at once new and fearful. 
This striking phenomenon is not by any means un- 
common and is accounted for by the larger bamboos, 
as they are swayed by the wind, emitting fire from 
their hard glossy stems through the violence of their 
friction, and thus spreading destruction through the 
mountain forests. These are so extensive that the 
fire continues to burn for many days together, and is 
often as suddenly extinguished as it is ignited by 
those mighty deluges of rain, so common in moun- 
tainous countries, where the water pours from the 
clouds in confluent masses resembling small cata- 
racts, and in a few moments arrests the progress of 
a still more formidable element. No one can form 
a conception of the violence of the torrents which oc- 
casionally fall on these mountains, from anything that 
has been witnessed in the more temperate latitudes of 
the opposite hemisphere. Here indeed, when they do 
fall, to use the sublime imagery of the Jewish law- 
giver, " the windows of heaven appear to be opened/’ 
It is scarcely possible for man or beast to stand against 
the impetuosity of their descent. Every living thing 
seeks the shelter of the forests where immense trees. 
