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Chapter Thirteen. The Camp On a Peak |
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vegetation changes as they reach forest |
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At last the secondary jungle gave way to tall forest, quite different from the woods in the lower regions. Wild bananas and ordinary bamboos do not grow at these heights, but only a certain thin, thorny bamboo that stands the intense cold. Enormous trees stretched their gnarled branches against the sky, and from the rich, dark earth, formed by centuries of fallen and rotten leaves, sprang an impenetrable undergrowth. Almost the whole year round clouds hang round these mountains, and now a white mist filled the forest. When we stepped into the open, leaving the protection of the trees, a strong summit wind dispersed the mist, and the village of Helipong lay before us. |
