i prefers them to high mountains.
He loves the sight of the brilliant emerald rice-fields, of the tall
feathery palms, of the shady banyan trees, of the flaming poinsettias,
the bright marigolds, cannas and bougainvillea, the many-coloured
crotons and calladiums, the sweet-scented jasmine, oranges,
tuberoses, and gardenia; and the gaudy jays, the swiftly darting
parrots, and the playful squirrels. He loves, too, the bathing-pools,
and the patient oxen, and the cool, sequestered gardens. And he
loves these things for their very nearness. His attention is not
distracted to distant horizons and inaccessible heights. All is close to
the eye and easily visible. His world may be small, but it is all
within reach. He can know well each tree and flower, each bird and
animal. It is not a wide and varied life. But it is an intense and very
vivid life; and to the Bengali, on that account, more preferable. And
if it is confined it is at least confined in the open air, and in a climate
of perpetual summer.

* * *

Beyond this highly cultivated and thickly populated part, and still in
the plains, we come to a wild jungle country which stretches up to
the foothills, and is swampy, pestilential, and swarming with every
kind of biting insect. It is a nasty country to travel through. But it
has its interests. There grow here remarkable grasses, with tall
straight shoots gracefully bending over at the top from the weight of
their feathery heads; and so high are these gigantic grasses that they
often reach above the head of a man on an elephant. The areas
covered by them are practically impenetrable to men on foot, and
there is a mysterious feel about this region, for it is the haunt of
rhinoceros, tigers, and boars. In passing through it we have an
uneasy feeling that almost anything may appear on the instant, and
that once we were on foot and away from the path we would be
irretrievably lost--drowned in a sea of waving grass.

From this sea of grass rise patches of forest and single trees. The
most prevalent is the Sal tree _(Shorea robusta),_ a magnificent
gregarious tree with a tall straight stem and thick glossy foliage. But
the most conspicuous in March and April is the Dak tree _(Butea
frondosa),_ an ungainly tree, but remarkable for its deep rich scarlet
flowers, like gigantic sweet-peas but of a thick velvety texture.
These flowers blossom before the leaves appear, and when the tree
is in full bloom it looks like a veritable f