CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
335 
ther in Europe. One tree remarkable for 
beauty, Avith dark green foliage, and blue 
blossoms resembling the periwinkle, is of 
frequent occurrence. 
In these picturesque environs too, isolated 
groups of reeds, twenty to thirty feet in cir- 
cumference, rise from the meadows, like 
sheaves of lances, thirty to forty feet in 
height, and, each only a few inches thick, 
wave their elastic tops to and fro with in- 
describable grace. The bamboo may also be 
recognised here. But the chief ornament of 
the forests are trees with magnificent large 
lilac, and others with white blossoms, con- 
trasting beautifully with the surrounding 
tints of green. The flame-coloured raceme 
of a " Tillandsia," a foot tall, and resembling 
a Brobdignagian pine-apple or strawberry, 
glows like fire among the dark foliage. The 
charming "Epiphytes" climb up the straight 
trunks of the trees, or picturesquely cover 
their branches, which seldom shoot out from 
the trunk at a less height than fifty to eighty 
feet from the ground. The Tillandsias nestle 
at the ramification of the smaller branches, 
or upon excrescences, where they often grow 
to an immense size, and have the appearance 
of an aloe, the length of a man, hanging down 
gracefully from a giddy height over the heads 
of the passers-by. 
Among various other plants, the mosses 
hang down, not unlike horses' tails, from the 
branches which support the "Epiphytes" and 
" Tillandsias," or one might fancy them the 
long beards of those venerable giants of the 
forest that have stood unbent beneath the 
weight of a thousand years. Myriads of 
" Lianas" hang down to the ground, or sus- 
pended in the air, coated Avith bark like the 
branches of the trees. It is impossible to 
conceive the fantastic forms they assume, in- 
terlaced and entangled ; sometimes they de- 
pend like straight poles to the ground, and 
striking root, might from their thickness be 
taken for trees ; at other times they resem- 
ble large hoops or rings from ten to twenty 
feet in diameter, or are so twisted that they 
look like cables. 
Conifers are seldom seen in the primeval 
forests, but the dark coloured foliage of other 
trees much resembles them. There is one 
that presents a peculiar appearance ; their 
slender, smooth, and white stems rising high 
above the surrounding thicket, their small 
crowns of large lobed leaves crowding pic- 
turesquely together. - The palm, too, that no- 
blest forest ornament, rises frequently from 
sixty to seventy feet, or half the height of the 
tallest trees. The crown resembles a tuft of 
pendent feathers, consisting of finely pinnated 
fronds, from the midst of which rises a pointed 
spire, of a light green colour, giving to these 
beautiful palms the appearance of the slender 
shaft of a lance or a waving reed. It is beau- 
tiful to see the enormous fern leaves, at least 
ten to fifteen feet long and five feet broad, 
agitated by the gentlest breeze, and gracefully 
waving to and fro with a ceaseless motion. 
In the most charming and secluded spots, 
springs rise from the ground in the midst of 
beautiful marsh plants and broad-leaved Heli- 
conias, overshadowed by magnificent trees, 
luxuriantly clothed with Epiphytes and 
creepers. " We halted," says a traveller, 
" under a tree, from which we shook down a 
number of Zabulecabas, a fruit resembling a 
black chei'ry, which were refreshing ; and 
then rode on through a shady arched avenue 
of Heliconias more than twenty feet high, 
which bent their gigantic leaves over our 
heads, fanning us most agreeably. Magical 
was the effect of the magnificent palms and 
crimson Sapucajas which rose above the mass 
of foliage ! We rode along the sea-coast 
round the Gavia, and, after passing Bolefogo, 
came to the Jardein Botanico. An avenue of 
Casuarinas from New Holland, laid out with 
great taste, occupies a charming site under 
the perpendicular walls of the Corcovado. 
Bread-fruit trees, and the trees that produce 
cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, camphor, and 
cocoa, were pointed out to us ; also an exten- 
sive plantation of the tea-plant, cultivated 
here by the Chinese, who have been brought 
over on purpose. There were also several 
new species of palms." 
A magnificent avenue of mango trees leads 
hence between two canals through fields at 
the back of Nossa Senhora de Beleni ; and 
opposite is an open space with a church, close 
to which we saw the first fan-palms {Hiriti : 
Illawitia Jlexuosa) ; at a short distance com- 
mences the primeval forest — a thick and 
almost impenetrable forest of pan-palms, 
skirted by a broad margin of the large-leaved 
tree -like Caladium arhorescenx, extended 
along the Aroizal river, and reflected on the 
cool still waters. At spots where this belt of 
Caladiums is interrupted, entangled masses 
of colossal roots are seen to be undermined 
by the waters. 
In another pai't, the small stems of the 
Corypha umbraculifera stand in the fore- 
ground of closely compacted fan-palms, over- 
topped by the taller Corypha elata. Among 
both species is seen the graceful Assai-palm 
(^Euterpe oleracea) waving to and fro its 
finely pinnated fronds supported on a slender 
bamboo-like stem. In a third line rises ma- 
jestically the summits of the lofty forest- 
trees, crowning the whole with their true 
Brazilian roofs of rich foliage or vaulted 
tops — red creepers of a magnificent colour 
here and there climbing up their huge trunks. 
