The trees are enormous, but many of
them are so covered with vines and creepers that we can scarcely
distinguish the massive trunks and luxuriant foliage. Every color is
here, rich green, royal purple, red, yellow, lilac, brown, and gray.
The vines, which overrun everything, are filled with gorgeous flowers,
and hang from the branches in the most graceful forms. Monkeys chatter
among the trees, beautiful parrots fly from limb to limb, butterflies
of the most gorgeous hues flutter about the grass-tops and the leaves
near the ground, and on every log and trunk are myriads of insects,
lizards and little living things of endless varieties, all strange and
wonderful to us.
[Illustration]
In some parts of this interminable forest, where the light breaks
through the foliage, we see suspended from the trees the wonderful
air-plants or orchids. They seem like hanging-baskets of flowers, and
are far more beautiful and luxuriant than anything of the kind that we
have in our hothouses at home.
But we shall not find it easy to walk through all these beauties. As I
said before, we shall often be obliged to cut a path with our
hatchets, and even then we may be unable to penetrate very far into
this jungle of beauties.
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