The orchids, however, were very abundant. Wherever a fallen tree hung across the path, there they found a lodging-place, and beautified the decaying trunks with their exquisite waxy flowers of pink and white. Although what has just been said of wild flowers is true on the whole, there were a considerable number to be seen, if carefully looked for. My bearers soon perceived how interested I was in observing their novel and curious forms, and brought to me all the different varieties they could find, so that in the evening my palanquin contained a collection of flowers and plants gathered during the day. I managed to dry a few, but the greater part had to be thrown away, as I had no means of preserving them to take up to the capital. In some parts of the woods the different species of bamboo give quite a distinct character to the vistas. Some of them shoot up in one long slender jointed stem, with fringes of delicate leaves, and hang over the paths like enormous whips. Another kind, a climbing species, with stems no thicker than a quill, clothes the lower trees with a dense mantle of pale green drapery. As we got into the higher and cooler parts of the forest, numbers of the trees had long pendent masses of feathery grey lichen, a species of _Usnea_, giving them quite a venerable appearance, and reminding me of the opening lines of Longfellow’s “Evangeline”: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.” [Sidenote: ANIMAL LIFE IN THE FOREST] Although the vegetation was most luxuriant, I was surprised and somewhat disappointed by the stillness of the forest, and the few signs of animal life and the rarity of the song of birds. It is true that at certain seasons the notes of many songsters may be heard, and that in certain places the cries of different species of lemur resound through the woods. Still, on the whole, I had imagined that a tropical forest would be much more visibly full of life. Subsequent experience and research showed me that there _is_ a considerable variety and number of living creatures in these forests, but they have to be looked for, and when found they are full of interest, as we shall see. It may be noticed, too, that both bird and insect life are more evident in the outskirts of the woods and in the occasional openings among the trees than in the densest forest, all living things delighting in sunlight.