As England and Germany always protect the interests of their subjects wherever invested, and as the United States Government has neither the will nor the power to guard the interests of her people in foreign lands, it is not strange that Englishmen and Germans embark in profitable enterprises in the Central-American Republics while Americans hesitate. At present we have to trust for our commercial rights to the general laws of nations and the favorable inclinations of the existing Government. CHAPTER XI. VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. Tropical vegetation cannot well be described; but the fact that even when seen it is hard to understand, need not prevent an attempt to sketch the general features. The real trouble that meets the novice on the threshold of the tropics is the utter inadequacy of the English language to express the variety and luxuriance he sees in the vegetable world. Even in color his vocabulary fails him, and he must include in the name “green” so many distinct tints that at last he relinquishes the difficult task and falls back upon the commonplace epithets, or leaves his tale untold. In the abundance, in the confusion, of plant-life the observer sees that as he goes from shore to mountain the trees and plants are not the same, and he will readily divide the vegetation into four tolerably distinct regions; these are the Shore, the River-bottoms, the Upland, and the Arid plain. On all the low Cayos that are almost awash with every wave, and on the low margin of the mainland, extending up the wide rivers for miles, are the mangroves (_Rhizophora mangle_), giving the landscape a dull look not at all attractive. They make indeed a hedge of interlaced branches and tangled roots inhospitably forbidding landing on the shores. In their branches are orchids, bromeliads, and other showy plants, while above all this comparatively low bush rises the graceful coco or the confra (_Manicaria Plukenetii_). The presence of mangroves is usually considered an indication of the haunt of malaria, but on insufficient grounds; for when these trees are cleared away, the shore is admirably suited for coconuts, which with equal unreason are popularly regarded as token of a salubrious climate. [Illustration: IN THE CHOCON FOREST.]