April, 1881.1 
24 1 
TROPICAL NOTES. 
I* Y W. B. PRYER. 
I have lately been reading, vvi tli much interest, several descriptions 
of scenes, principally zoological, in the Far East, but 1 must say that, 
as a rule, I consider these descriptions overdrawn. There is, of 
course, a broad distinction to be made between writers of the Jules 
Verne school and gentlemen who are really describing what they have 
seen in the Tropics, but even these latter are nearly always too florid ; 
again and again I have found people writing what they believe to be 
true, from which home-stayers in England would suppose that the 
scenes commonest in the Tropics are one gorgeous conglomeration of 
richly hued birds, the most beautiful exotic flowers, and troops of mon- 
kc\ s, tv bile snakes, squirrels, palm trees, and, more particularly, butterflies 
nearly every writer insists upon large quantities of gaily coloured 
butterflies— are thrown in ad libitum ; Wallace very much put an end 
to the idea of the abundance of flowers in the tropical forest, and, of 
late years, there has been a noticeable falling off in their size, pro- 
fusion, and colouring ! ; but most of the other things I have mentioned 
are still alluded to in undiminished numbers and gorgeousness. 
Now, at this moment, I have “The Tropical Forest” before me ; 
within one hundred yards of me, at this present moment of writing, 
commences a mighty forest, which may be traversed for a hundred 
miles without a vestige of human handiwork being met with, and what 
is it like P Simply, large quantities of straight tree-stems, running up 
like ships’-masts into the air, and terminating in a small mushroom- 
shaped head of leaves, and so thickly do the trees grow, that their 
heads are so closely packed together, as to form a dense canopy over- 
head, through which the sun can hardly find a chink to penetrate, 
and, accordingly, it is quite gloomy, cool, and damp below ; as for 
monkeys, squirrels, birds, butterflies, palm trees, flowers, Ac., there is 
simply not one visible. 
Notwithstanding this, however, it does sometimes happen that 
one sees a good many birds in one place, in another, perhaps, a flock 
or two of monkeys, and, possibly, some other animal in another, a good 
many butterflies, and so forth ; and it is but natural, perhaps, that 
writing afterwards while the usual uneventful every-day appearance 
of the Tropics is forgotten, these more beautiful and full-of-life scenes 
alone dwell in the memory, and are described as the usual thing. 
Gifted with a good digestion and a stout pair of legs, there are, 
I daresay, few, if any, people who have wandered over the extreme 
