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The rain in large drops fell upon the broad leaves with a soft, plashing sound; and now and then a quick, short puff came snorting along, and, seizing the feathery frondage of the palms, shook them with a spiteful and ruffian energy. The long green stripes, after oscillating a moment, would settle down again in graceful and motionless curves.
A clump of these grew near, their naked stems laced by a parasite of the lliana species, which rose from the earth, and, traversing diagonally, was lost in the feathery frondage above. These formed a canopy, underneath which, from tree to tree, three hammocks were extended. One was empty; the other two were occupied.
The open glade, with the golden sun streaming down upon its green herbage, and vivid flowers the varied tints of the forest frondage, now dressed in the brilliant lively of autumn the cliffs beyond, contrasting with it in colour from their lining of dark-green cedars and pines and, higher still, the snow-white summit, as it towered against the blue sky, sparkling under the sun, and lending a delicious coolness to the air all these objects formed a panorama that was indeed lovely to look upon.
The cosy nooks at the head of the many small bays constitute most admirable pictures, filled in as they are with the ever-beautiful feathery palms and broad green plantain fronds. These nooks have all been taken possession of by fishermen, and their conically beehive- shaped huts always peep from under the frondage.
Green fields lay before us, and tall trees sprang up, covered with a thick and verdant frondage! "Cotton-woods!" cried a hunter, as his eye rested on these still distant groves. "Tall saplins at that wagh!" ejaculated another. "Water thar, fellers, I reckin!" remarked a third. "Yes, siree! Yer don't see such sprouts as them growin' out o' a dry paraira. Look! Hollo!"
No gloom down there, no black scoriae, no returning streams of lava, nor debris of pumice-stone; but, on the contrary, a smiling vegetation trees with foliage of different shades, among which can be distinguished the dark-green frondage of the live-oak and pecan, the more brilliant verdure of cottonwoods, and the flower-loaded branches of the wild China-tree.
I behold the corozo of the same genus with the palma real its light feathery frondage streaming outwards and bending downwards, as if to protect from the hot sun the globe-shaped nuts that hang in grape-like clusters beneath.
In contrast with the brighter frondage of these were dark cone-shaped cedars, and spire-like forms of the yew. There were date-trees and weeping willows growing upon the river bank, and drooping gracefully over its current. Beautiful birds of many varieties might be seen among the copses, or moving over the grassy sward of the lawn.
Other trees of the same species stood out upon the plain at long distances apart; and though they were all taller than the surrounding timber, none were so large or conspicuous as the one that grew by the spring. The field-cornet, as he enjoyed the cool shade which its umbrageous frondage afforded, could not help thinking what an admirable spot it would be to build a kraal.
It was the autumn season, too, and the foliage, which had not yet commenced falling, had assumed those rich varied tints so characteristic of the American sylva various hues of green and golden, and yellow and deep red were exhibited upon the luxuriant frondage that lined the banks of the stream, and here and there drooped like embroidered curtains down to the water's edge.
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