Tall PANDANUS Trees, Some Of Them Supported By A Hundred And More Long Stilted Roots, Which Rose Many Feet Above Our Heads, Reared Their Crowns Of Ribbon-Like Leaves Above Even Some Of The Giants Of The Forest.

Palms of all shapes and sizes, dwarfed, tall, slender and thick, surrounded us on every side, and at least three different species of climbing palms scrambled over the tallest trees.

The tree trunks were hidden by climbing ferns and by a white variegated fleshy-leafed POTHOS. Orchids, though not numerous, were by no means scarce on the branches of some of the larger trees, and were intermixed with many curious and beautiful ferns. There were many large-leafed tropical plants somewhat resembling the HELICONIAS and MARANTAS of tropical America.

Flowers were not very plentiful, but here and there the forest would be literally ablaze with what is said to be the most showy flowering creeper in the world, huge bunches of large flowers of so vivid a scarlet that Monckton and I agreed no painting could do them justice. It is sometimes known as the DALBERTIA, but its botanical name is MUCUNA BENNETTI. It has been found impossible to introduce it into cultivation. Among other flowers were some very large sweet-scented CRINUM lilies and some very pretty pink flowering BEGONIAS, with their leaves beautifully mottled with silver. Here and there we would notice a variegated CROTON or pink-leafed DRACAENA, but these were uncommon.

As we proceeded, I noticed that in spite of the very dry weather we had been having, the ground each moment became more moist, which indicated that we were approaching the swamps we had heard about.

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