The mystical power of the vines of deepest Africa

Having gone thru ALL the Tarzan and Jungle Jim (Tarzan when he has to wear a shirt) movies in the past year, I am finally relegated to Bomba the Jungle Boy for my men-in-suits-in-the-jungle fare

Like those Ape Men who had preceded him, Bomba would eschew the use of linking verbs almost entirely. And what was the astronomical number of his chosen sunscreen? We may never know.

But enough of THAT....we need to talk VINES

Vines,Vines everywhere were vines. For cross jungle hi-speed transport, there wasn’t a finer mode of travel than a handy vine. Anchored to a fulcrum point roughly halfway between the point of launch, and the point of destination, these things were a Godsend.It probably goes without saying that the point of the fulcrum was required to be at a much higher elevation to the surrounding jungle and a good bit of clear cutting was a standard practice in those days.

At the center point of the arc, the vines, now directly UNDER the fulcrum must surely drag the jungle floor. A crew of monkeys was most likely put to task keeping this area of “floor” clear of obstacles.Would this be the SAME crew that trimmed rapidly growing suckers from the vines themselves?

Were OTHER monkey crews assigned to manage vine re-location spotting and placement? Was one crew delegated to East-West vinery….an other to West-East vinery? (and so on)

Was the laborious process of vine travel management the pre-cursor to modern day deforestation?

These, I imagine were often the topics of conversation at the trail camp dinners. At those swell 4-top wooden tables what else would they discuss? The Heritage patterned china and silver service?

Thank you.....I feel better now