The Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest—p. [259] to p. [272].
Difference between languages in respect to their richness in well-defined expressions for characterising natural phenomena, such as the state of vegetation, the forms of plants, the outlines and grouping of clouds, the appearance of the surface of the ground, and the forms of rocks and mountains. Loss which languages suffer by the disuse of such words, or by their signification becoming impaired. The misinterpretation of a Spanish word, “Monte,” has caused the undue extension or introduction of mountains in maps. Primeval Forest; frequent abuse of the term. Absence of the uniformity which is produced by the association of the same kinds of trees, characteristic of tropical forests. Causes of the impenetrability of forests between the tropics; the twining plants, Lianes, often form only a small portion of the Underwood [259]–[266]
Appearance of the Rio Apure in the lower part of its course. Margin of the forest fenced like a garden by a low hedge of Sauso (Hermesia). The wild animals of the forest lead their young to the river through small openings in this hedge. Flocks of large water-hogs or Cavies (Capybara). Fresh-water dolphins [266]–[269]
Wild cries of animals resound throughout the forest. Cause of the nocturnal uproar [269]–[271]
Contrast with the stillness which reigns during the noon-tide hours on days of more than usual heat in the torrid zone. Description of the narrows of the Orinoco at Baraguan. Humming and fluttering of insects. Life stirs audibly in every bush, in the clefts of the bark of trees, and in the earth undermined and furrowed by Hymenopterous insects [271]–[272]
Scientific Elucidations and Additions—p. [273] to p. [275].
Characteristic terms in Arabic and Persian descriptive of the surface of the ground (Steppes, grassy plains, deserts, &c.) Richness of the old Castilian idiom in words expressive of the form of mountains. Fresh-water skates and dolphins. In the great rivers of both continents some organic sea-forms are repeated. American nocturnal monkeys, the three-striped Douroucouli of the Cassiquiare. [273]–[275]
Hypsometric Addenda—p. [277] to p. [285].
Pentland’s measurements in the eastern mountain chain of Bolivia. Height of the volcano of Aconcagua according to Fitzroy and Darwin. Western mountain chain of Bolivia [277]–[279]
Mountain systems of North America. Rocky Mountains and the Snowy Chain (Sierra Nevada) of California. Laguna de Timpanogos [279]–[283]