Theodore Winthrop

“ The student will recognize the constituents of these forests in the magnificent types of the foreground. I desire at present merely to call his attention to the healthy cheerfulness of their color, and the vigorous, but not rank, character of their growth. Down in the hot valleys, foliage sucks dank from the sluggish air, and, growing fat and pulpy, is not penetrated by sunlight, but only reflects a hard sheen. Seen from above, lush greens preponderate. Few of the largest trees have leaves of delicate texture like our maples. ”

“ In all this multitudinous forest of the Montaña, there is nothing of the gloom of the impenetrable vegetation of the fiery lowlands of the tropics. In this elevated valley vegetation assimilates to that of the temperate zones; there is never any nipping check of winter; the tree can develop its life without harsh discipline of frost, and grow without need of frantic impulse after long lethargy. Hence we are at home, and yet strangers in these woods. Our Northern comrades seem to surround us, but they have suffered promotion. ”

“ It is, as we feel, a countless grove, with many masses of thicket and careless tangles of drapery, such as we see on the left-hand foreground, and vistas of ambrosial gloom, such as open down the ferny dell on the right. ”