When this disorderly conglomeration of
trees and saplings, vines, creepers, trailers and crawlers, complicated
and confused, has to be cleared, as civilisation demands the use of the
soil, sometimes a considerable area will remain upright, although every
connection with Mother Earth is severed, so interlaced and interwoven
and anchored are the vines with those clinging to trees yet uncut. Then,
in a moment, as some leading strand gives way, the whole mass
falls--smothered, bruised, and crushed--to be left for a month and more
before the fires destroy the faded relics of the erstwhile gloriously
rampant jungle. In all this the lawyer cane is the most aggressive and
hostile. Not only are there prickles on the 10-feet thongs, but the
leaves and leaf-sheaths are thickly beset. In one species the 6-feet-long
leaves bear upon the margins and upper surface long, thin, needle-like
points, black and glossy, and attaining a length Of 3 inches; the main
rib bears stout re-curved prickles, while the sheaths which envelop the
cane are densely covered with dark brown or black points 1 inch and more
long.
One cannot cut jungle and escape bloodshed, for the long tentacles of
the lawyer catch you unawares sooner or later, and then, for all are set
with double rows of re-curved points, do not endeavour to escape by
strife and resistance--it is no use pulling against those pricks--but by
subtlety and diplomacy.
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