28o
Martinique
Sketches.
roots, — each such web interknotting with others all round it, and these in turn with further ones ; while between their reticulations lianas ascend and descend : and a nameless multitude of shrubs as tough as indiarubber push up,together with mosses, grasses, and ferns. Square miles upon square miles of woods are thus interlocked and interbound into one mass solid enough to resist the pressure of a hurricane ; and where there is no path already made, entrance into them can only be effected by the most dexterous cutlassing. An inexperienced stranger might be puzzled to understand how this cutlassing is done. It is no easy feat to sever with one blow a liana thick as a man's arm; the trained cutlasser does it without apparent difficulty : moreover, he cuts horizontally, so as to prevent the severed top presenting a sharp angle and proving afterwards dangerous. He never appears to strike hard,— only to give light taps with his blade, which flickers continually about him as he moves. Our own guides in cutlassing are not at all inconvenienced by their loads; they walk perfectly upright, never stumble, never slip, never hesitate, and do not even seem to perspire : their bare feet are prehensile. Some créoles in our party, habituated to the woods, walk nearly as well in their shoes ; but they carry no loads. . . . At last we are rejoiced to observe that the trees are becoming smaller;—there are no more colossal trunks ;—there are frequent glimpses of sky : the sun has risen well above the peaks, and sends occasional beams down through the leaves. Ten minutes, and we reach a clear space,—a wild savane, very steep, above which looms a higher belt of woods. Here we take another short rest. Northward the view is cut off by a ridge covered with herbaceous vegetation ;—but to the south-west it is open, over a gorge of which both sides are shrouded in som-