midday
Their thick shade and their delicious fruit made them precious trees , and meanwhile , according to Harris , not a native would dare to propagate the species . `` Whoever plants a mango-tree dies ! '' Such is the superstitious maxim of the country . 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 .