AN AMAZONIAN FOREST.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 1628, 9 December 1879, Page 3

AN AMAZONIAN FOREST.

'?■••■> (Scribner's Montldy.) ■ • ■ On threo sides of- the cane-fiold tho forest rises m solid mass fully one hundred feet. A distance of. fifteen or twenty miles, may be, has been reached by tho hunters and tho sarsaparilla gatherers ; beyond that tho coxintry is as completely a terra iivcognita as" the other side' of tho moon. But so far as wo know, with very slight breaks, the wholo of tho Amazonian highland is covered with this thick growth of- trees; there is no other forest region m tho world of liko extent, arid none-' so remarkable for tho varioty and richness of its productions.,. ..Where. tho laud Jias beeji recently cleared wo get a kind; of section of tho forest ;.. hundreds of gray and- white columns sot close together like thepicketa 6i a ietice, and supporting tho preen roof above. 'But.within everything is a' maze j a ' chaotic oon fusion of treetrupis and vjrics, and branches anil leaves. . . . ..••■• Even on tho '.ocean 'you are not so weighted with a : sense : of your insignificance aa when wandering m thoso pa'th^ lea's Bolitudos. .For at sea. there is always the Bamo,. horizon, a definite boundary to vision ; and m • tho very attempt to reach beyond'it the imagination forms an ideal ocean, a limited immensity. The ship, carries you ' on without any bodily exeriion-of-your own ; you know that yon are moving, as you know that tho earth moves, bufday after day there nro theTSarae spa an^ sky to.giVethe lie to yomr reasoning. ; In the forest you aro forced to ra,easuro your own power with the in r finite. . ' .: Guided by' the . compass, you keep a straigHF'jine for'^daya together; but.it. is not liko a^woodland walk at home"; you must do battle, for' your right of way, cutting narrow passages through hedgelike'thickets, rand mats of woody, vines andinterlacea brnrichds. And then, after a day of hard fighting, you lay yourself down, at -tho foot of some giant tree, and. look up,-up to where tho boughs are all mingled together, ■ and ' single leaves are undistinguiahable, whero the fragmonts of bluo_.sky_ aeem hardly moro distant than tho tree., tops, as' if .you saw thorn through an inverted telescopo ; and off through the yagtfe' net work of leaves, and treo trunks, and rope-like roots, And twisted vineq, until tho vision m lost, you know not Where j only you feelinyour inmost soul that .tliero is a mystorious and . unfathomable depth be-, yond ; you know that -you • are hardly within the borders of .this; wilderness whero. you could travel for months and .never. reacli.tho. end.;, you compare, your littloneßs with, tho littlcncsa of asinglo tree, which, standing alone, would bo a' beacon for miles around, and you bow your head with fear and trembling, with tho cry of the human : "Be pitiful, O God; 1 ' ■;-. At first thcro is only tho overwhelming impression of extent and impenetrable tanglo. After awhilo tho oyos grow acoustomo t d to tho labyrinth, , and wo begin to' notico its component' parte ; and wo bco how difForont tlio highland forost is from tho pictures wo had drawn of it. Wo got our ideas of tho tropics from tho/groonhouses, wliero » gruat numbor of broadloav'od handsome plants aro gathored from overy quarter of tho world, and thrown together without any regard to their distribution m nature ; all of them rctnarkable for their singular forms, or bright colors, or showy flowers. But tho high forest him nothing to comparo with this ; m many rospects it rathor rusombles bur woods at homo, only it is far thicker and higher. , „ < Palms aro common m many places, but sb thoir tops aro lost m tho tanglo above, wo hardly notice them ; only ther large stemlcss curuas sometimes' form a peculiar foreground. There aro no bananns, no -callas-jTio bamboos ; even the orchids and broniolias are hidden among tho branches, fifty foot f over' our hoadß. For tho most part tlio treos look' much liko northern species^ :',,', Almost all forest trues aro straight- and comparatively, slender ; hero tho ''trunks" afO'inoro buried m- ifoHftgo/- and' 1 thb' 'iippor brauclioß nro v

hundred, perhaps a hundred and fifty, feet f romtho .ground. Some form fluted columns or buttresses around the roots; a few are spiny. In the foliage we ODly notice the curious efFect produced by tho preponderance o£ pinnnta leaves, as m the acaoias and 'myrtles. But m a northern wood, over largo tracts woCndpnly pines, beeches, or, oaks, or at most only four, or five kinds together. . Here there will hardly be two kinds aliko on an. acre ; m a day's walk we may ace three or four hundred Bpecics. But there are exceptions to this ; m many places the ground is largely occupied by two or three species, but not to the entire exclusion of others.