In the densest forests the trees, struggling through the tangle of underwood to the light, are often 150 ft.
The sugar-cane flourishes, the cotton-plant ripens to perfection, date-trees are seen in the gardens, the rocks are clothed with the prickly-pear or Indian fig, the enclosures of the fields are formed by aloes and sometimes pomegranates, the liquorice-root grows wild, and the mastic, the myrtle and many varieties of oleander and cistus form the underwood of the natural forests of arbutus and evergreen oak.
He displayed his political tact in the choice of the American delegation, which was led by Secretary Hughes and included, besides Elihu Root, two members of the Senate, Lodge and Underwood, the Republican and Democratic leaders respectively.
All the islands are richly clothed with palm trees and flowering underwood.
In these primeval forests the vegetation is excessively rank; passage has to be forced through thick underwood and creeping plants, between giant trees, whose foliage shuts out the sun's rays; and the land teems with animal and insect life of every form and colour.