Page:Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy, Stockton, 1872.djvu/189

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FAR-AWAY FORESTS.
179

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.

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 hot-houses at home.

But we will not find it easy to walk through all these beauties. As I said before, we will 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. The natives of these countries, when they are com-