e every where visible. Idle men, with an uncertain mixture of
European, Negro, and Indian blood; sad-looking Quichua women, carrying a
naked infant or a red water-jar on the back; black hogs and lean poultry
wandering at will into the houses--such is the picture of the motley
life in the inland villages. Strange was the contrast between human
poverty and natural wealth. We were on the borders of a virgin forest,
and the overpowering beauty of the vegetation soon erased all memory of
the squalor and lifelessness of La Mona. Our road--a mere path, suddenly
entered this seemingly impenetrable forest, where the branches crossed
overhead, producing a delightful shade. The curious forms of tropical
life were all attractive to one who had recently rambled over the
comparatively bleak hills of New England. Delight is a weak term to
express the feelings of a naturalist who for the first time wanders in a
South American forest. The superb banana, the great charm of equatorial
vegetation, tossed out luxuriantly its glossy green leaves, eight feet
in length; the slender but graceful bamboo shot heavenward, straight as
an arrow; and many species of palm bore aloft their feathery heads,
inexpressibly light and elegant. On the branches of the independent
trees sat tufts of parasites, many of them orchids, which are here
epiphytal; and countless creeping plants, whose long flexible stems
entwined snake-like around the trunks, or formed gigantic loops and
coils among the limbs. Beneath this world of foliage above, thick beds
of mimosae covered the ground, and a boundless variety of ferns attracted
the eye by their beautiful patterns.[11] It is easy to specify the
individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes, but it is not
possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder,
astonishment, and devotion which fill and elevate the mind. This road to
the Andes is a paradise to the contemplative man. "There is something in
a tropical forest (says Bates) akin to the ocean in its effects on the
mind. Man feels so completely his insignificance, and the vastness of
nature." The German traveler Burmeister observes that "the contemplation
of a Brazilian forest produced on him a painful impression, on account
of the vegetation displaying a spirit of restless selfishness, eager
emulation, and craftiness." He thought the softness, earnestness, and
repose of European woodland scenery were far more pleasing, and that
these formed