During the second half of this first day of the journey, the little
troop, after the midday halt, began to ascend land slightly inclined.
They were not as yet the slopes of the chain of the first plane, but a
sort of undulating plateau which connected the plain with the mountain.

There the trees, a little less compact, sometimes clustered in groups,
would have rendered the march easier, if the soil had not been invaded
by herbaceous plants. One might believe himself in the jungles of
Oriental India. Vegetation appeared to be less luxuriant than in the
lower valley of the little river, but it was still superior to that of
the temperate regions of the Old or of the New World.

Indigo was growing there in profusion, and, according to Harris, this
leguminous plant passed with reason for the most usurping plant of the
country. If a field came to be abandoned, this parasite, as much
despised as the thistle or the nettle, took possession of it
immediately.

One tree seemed lacking in this forest, which ought to be very common
in this part of the new continent; it was the caoutchouc-tree. In fact,
the "ficus primoides," the "castilloa elastica," the "cecropia
peltats," the "collophora utilis," the "cameraria letifolia," and above
all, the "syphonia elastica," which belong to different families,
abound in the provinces of South America. And meanwhile, a rather
singular thing, there was not a single one to be seen.

Now, Dick Sand had particularly promised his friend Jack to show him
some caoutchouc trees. So a great deception for the little boy, who
figured to himself that gourds, speaking babies, articulate