512 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
round, the little sea-ports of Port Antonio, Buff Bay, Anotta 
Bay, &c., showed like specks in the dark woods around them. 
The thermometer, in the sun 50°, sunk to 46° during the 
night, and this in the middle of June; I have little doubt 
that it freezes here in the winter season. 
Leaving the negroes to construct our hut, I made the 
most of the little daylight that remained, there being no twi- 
light in Jamaica, for as soon as the sun disappears, it be- 
comes dark. I obtained specimens of Podocarpus coriacea, 
Vaccinium meridionale, Manettia Lygustum, Myrtus alpina, a 
pretty upright growing shrub, and Lobelia assurgens. Bam- 
busa verticillata renders these woods almost impenetrable. 
Several interesting shrubs also occurred, and a few singular 
Ferns growing on the stems of a remarkable species of 
Clethra, not in flower. This plant has large, broad, woolly, 
leaves, and is the largest tree at the Peak; it appears pecu- 
liar to this locality, as I did not observe it anywhere else. 
After securing what seeds, plants, and specimens I could, I : 
returned at dark, and found the negroes busy roasting yams 
for dinner. This appeared to absorb all our thoughts for the 
present, our appetites being pretty well sharpened. The hut 
was formed of a skeleton span roof, and covered with Yacca 
branches and fronds of a Tree-fern, the most simply-fronded 
I had seen, and which appears peculiar to this district OT 
range of mountains. 
The night threatened rain, and our last bottle of porter Was 
destroyed in attempting to take off the neck of the bottle for 
want of a corkscrew. This was a real misfortune, for one of the 
negroes had broken the calabash of water, and it was now t00 
late to replace it. I rolled myself up in a blanket, and would 
have been quite comfortable, but the rain began to fall about 
ten o'clock, p.m., and was not long in finding its way through 
ournew habitation. A large fire in the middle of the hut was 
necessary to keep us warm ; the cold and rain, coupled with the 
groaning of the negroes from chil ly damp, rendered it not an 
easy matter to sleep ; twice I pulled them from the fire after 
