242 TlMEHRI. 
consisting of layers of vegetable matter one above another. 
After a long drought the sedges get dry and their outer 
leaves wither, while the pegass becomes springy under 
foot and sinks several inches at every step. At such 
times the smallest spark may set it on fire. The flames 
run along from tuft to tuft, spluttering here and crackling 
there, now rising into flame and everywhere giving out 
dense columns of smoke. Not only are the dry sedges 
burnt but the surface of the pegass as well, which some- 
times continues to smoulder for a week. In the day the 
flames are hardly visible, but the incessant spitting, 
sharp reports like pistol shots, and clouds of smoke 
show unmistakably what is going on. At night however 
a savannah on fire is a magnificent spectacle. Then 
the glow may be seen for a long distance if no forest is 
in the way, lighting up the horizon like a rosy sunset. 
After the fire nothing but an irregular charred surface 
remains. Every tuft is a blackened hillock, but few 
of them are actually destroyed. The razor grass is not 
killed so easily. It has more lives than a cat for it can 
endure both fire and water. When the rains fall and 
the floods come again it will rise up with renewed 
strength to fight the battle of life. No matter that 
myriads of seeds germinate on the new clearing and hide 
the blackened tufts with a carpet of green. The monarch 
pushes them aside. He will have no intruders here. 
Tuft after tuft of serrated leaves rise up in everv direc- 
tion and soon clothe the savannah, smothering every^ 
thing between them, and making as impenetrable a jungle 
as at first. 
All these wet savannahs however are not equally con^ 
genial to the great razor grass. Whether from a stronger 
