suppose
we ramble for an hour or two in forests so far away that it is
probable none of you have ever seen them.

Let us first enter a pine forest.

We have plenty of pines in our own country, and it is probable that
most of you have walked in the pine woods, on many a summer's day,
when the soft carpet of "needles," or "pine-shatters," as some people
call them, was so pleasant to the feet, the aromatic perfume of the
leaves and trees was so delicious, and everything was so quiet and
solemn.

But here is a pine forest in the Eastern hemisphere.

These woods are vast and lonely. The ground is torn up by torrents,
for it is a mountainous district, and the branches have been torn and
broken by many a storm. It is not a pleasant place for those who love
cheerful scenery, and moreover, it is not so safe to ramble here as in
our own woods at home. Companies of bandits inhabit many of these
forests, especially those that stretch over the mountainous portions
of Italy. It seems strange that in this enlightened era and in one of
the civilized countries of Europe, bandits should still exist to
terrify the traveller; but so it is.

Let us get out of this pine forest, so gloomy and perhaps so
dangerous.

Here, now, is a very different place. This is a forest in the tropics.
You will not be likely to meet with bandits here. In fact, it is very
improbable indeed that you will meet with any one. There are vast
portions of these woods which have never been trodden by the foot of
man, and which you can never see unless you cut your way, hatchet in
hand, among the thick undergrowth and the interlacing vines.

[Illustration]

Here are ferns as large as trees--great masses of flowers that seem as
if a whole garden had been emptied down before us--vast wildernesses
of green, which we know extend for miles and miles, and which,
although apparently so thick and impenetrable, are full of all kinds
of life, vegetable and animal. 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