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TROPICAL FORESTS 
Most of us think of the “ jungle” in terms of a Tarzan movie. 
The word originally meant a “track of uncultivated land,” but 
now it is used more specifically to mean a dense tropical thicket 
of bamboos and palms as in India, of brush and vines as in 
Australia, of gigantic tangled grasses as in Africa, or to indicate 
a parklike woodland of tropical trees, a forest choked with 
undergrowth, or a tangled and impenetrable swamp. 
The great tropical jungles of the present day are found in 
western Africa, northern South America, and southeastern Asia 
and its islands. The average seaman or Marine is not likely 
to be plopped down in the center of one of these places as are 
Marine and Naval aviators, but with the growing use of air 
transport for Naval personnel such a thing may happen. Fur- 
thermore, as a result of landing operations you may find yourself 
in such a location. Knowledge of how to conduct yourself in a 
tropical forest will serve in any one of these areas in spite of the 
fact that each one differs from the others. 
Remember that the tropical forest is just another woods on 
a grand scale and that the man who learns how to use it has 
more chance of survival in it, over a long period of time, than 
he probably would have in the forest areas of our own country. 
If it seems to have more alarming noises than you have ever 
heard before don't get excited. Most of them are caused by 
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