44 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
trees) it adds itself to the mighty gathering of its fellows which 
have already lost themselves in the main river. 
Miners speak of the oozing of water from the over-saturated 
earth as “ seepage.” Such a creek as I mean is the seepage of the 
tropical forest swamp. It indeed has a channel—near the 
mouth often a deep channel—but it has, in its upper reaches, no 
banks, so that while part of its water hurries leisurely to the 
river, the rest spreads for an indefinite distance on each side ; 
and there, having washed bare the fantastic tree roots, lies half 
stagnant, and loads and overloads the air imprisoned between 
the floor and the roof of the forest. 
And just as the densely matted forest roof almost shuts in 
the moisture-laden air, so it almost shuts out the light of the 
sun. Even when at midday the tropic sun is reflected with most 
dazzling brilliance from the tropic sky above, here below there 
is hardly more than twilight pierced by countless tiny shafts of 
full light, which here and there strike through the less crowded 
leaves far down into the gloom. 
The light is too faint for much plant life, and the black 
vegetable refuse which represents the soil is almost bare. Moss 
and such delicately small growths as cover our English ground 
are nowhere to be seen. What plants are there are mostly of 
striking and singular aspect, giving the scene a weird and 
uncanny look. 
There are weedy clumps of great sedgelike plants. There are 
a few ground-loving Aroids with quaintly coloured and marked 
stems, with quainter heart-shaped leaves, and with quaintest 
flowers. There are ferns, some large and coarse-growing, the 
fronds of these loaded with the young plants, which would perish 
in the too great moisture below; others of lower stature and 
more delicately cut, the fronds of these often coated with the mud 
washed on to them by the last flood. Here and there—and 
these are the greenest patches—a beautiful and rampantly grow¬ 
ing Selaginella has spread itself over places where the ground is 
a little higher ; while close by, and in most beautiful contrast, 
are the broad oval leaves of the sweet-smelling Wood Lily 
(Hymenocallis guianensis), lifting toward the light its stately 
cluster of delicately white trumpet-shaped flowers, from which 
hang loosely down the curiously long, narrow, and quaintly 
twisted petals. 
