Balata and the Balata Industry. 159 
and tooroo are common, but I saw no booba, and trooly 
does not inhabit the river. 
Returning to the more general subjects of the forests ; 
from Portico creek for a considerable distance the trees 
are covered with the old man's beard— Tillandsia 
usneoides. The presence of this plant lends a peculiar 
aspect to the vegetation, and reminds one forcibly of 
colder latitudes or higher elevations. * Between this 
part of the river and the beginning of the savannah 
region there is very little variation in the appearance 
of the forest, and not much difference between one part 
and another in the subjects of which it is constituted. 
I should mention here that the vegetation along the 
banks of an open river is only in part representative of 
that lying behind. This may be seen by the difference 
between the riverside and creek-side plants. The 
vegetation of the creeks represents very closely that of 
the general forest which they intersect, while that of 
the river comprises only some of the subjects which 
constitute this, with numerous others not found there. 
The difference is due to a corresponding difference in 
the conditions of the respective situations. Many of the 
forest plants shrink from the light and air, which they 
are unable to bear, of the open river side, and their places 
are taken by others to which these conditions are essential. 
To gather, therefore, a correct idea of the nature of the 
* Many of the trees in the neighbourhood of the Falls were covered 
with the old-man's-beard, Tellandsia usneoides, which hanging in 
streaming festoons, driven by the wind, imparted to them, from its 
silvery hue, some of the weird appearance exhibited by the lichen and 
moss-clothed trees of high altitudes.— Report on the Botanical Collecting 
Expedition on the Corentyne River in 1879. 
