BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 511 
striking ; the arborescent Ferns here attain a greater size than 
I had yet seen them, 50 to 60 feet being the common height. 
Three species I observed as we went up. After leaving - 
Portland Gap, the ascent becomes very steep, over roots and 
dense brakes of Gleichenia immersa. The stems and branches 
of every shrub or tree are covered with various Mosses, 
hanging in the most fantastic manner, and preserving their 
soft luxuriance when many yards in length, until their own 
weight or the violent winds prostrate them, again to ascend 
with a vigour of growth, which the great moisture of these 
forests, almost constantly enveloped in clouds, accounts for. 
The ascent is very steep to the first flat, where water is 
obtained from an excellent spring, which is about 7,000 feet 
above the sea. The water is pure, and cold as ice, and after 
drinking as much as we required, and taking a quantity with 
us, we began the ascent of the Peak proper. Here the Podo- 
carpus coriacea (Yacca) constitutes entire forests, and beneath 
its shade Lobelia assurgens, flowering profusely, forms a 
suffruticose shrub, of 20 feet high. The ascent now is al- 
most perpendicular, vegetation becoming more dwarfish. 
Towards the summit, the trees are generally only about 15 or 
20 feet high, and nothing occurs that may be called timber. 
We reached the Peak by five o’clock, p.m. I had collected a 
quantity of seeds and specimens on my way up, which had a 
good deal impeded my progress. 
The evening was fine and clear, the view truly magnificent, 
the whole island lying like a map at our feet. The white 
bed of the Yallah's River appeared beneath our feet, although 
sixteen miles distant, and Kingston, with its beautiful har- 
bour, teeming with vessels, had a very pretty appearance. 
To the northward, east, and west, one dense and undulated 
forest presented itself, far as the eye could reach. The 
Proportion of cleared land, along the north side on the coast, 
was a mere strip; the better cultivated mountains of Port 
yal, with the numerous isolated residences, gave a 
considerable animation to the scene, Turning half-way 
