The Mountains of the West Indies. 73 
shoots upward, as it were, to the lower branches of 
detached trees which stand like advanced guards from 
the ranks of the adjacent forest. The forest ! Let us 
wend our way thither — it is in these forests that cover 
nearly two thirds of the island, that the luxuriance, the 
splendour, of tropical vegetation may be seen to best 
advantage. Into these deep and dark recesses the foot 
of man but seldom intrudes, and the golden sunshine 
scarcely penetrates. The whole scene is dank and dark 
— the foliage is dripping from the morning shower — the 
fallen leaves and the vines beneath are spongy to 
the tread, whilst high above all, the great branches twine 
and interlace like a gigantic rout of serpents. What with 
all these, and the deep silence that reigns in this grand 
cathedral of Nature, you feel ineffably oppressed, and 
begin to long for an unknown something with an un- 
utterable yearning. But nevertheless, the scene is 
grand, if weird. 
Unlike most tropical countries, you may wander for 
weeks in the wilds of Cuba without coming upon a single 
venomous reptile. Occasionally, the scales of a harmless 
snake may glimmer in the sunlight as it glides across 
your path ; now and then a great spider may dart down 
the fairy cables that anchor his web in mid air, or a 
glorious green lizard like a huge carved emerald, 
startled by your presence, may miss the fly at which 
it sprang, and drop upon your shoulder ; but these 
are all, if we except the innumerable colonies of 
ants that infest the forests. Unlike the forests of 
some other tropical countries too, you are not 
here startled by some fierce beast of prey as it comes 
tramping, or bounding, or gliding through the under- 
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