BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 19 
rently had not chosen to wait to let us pass quietly and the 
road is so narrow that it is with much difficulty two people 
can cross. Had not the tree caught them, they must have 
been both dashed to atoms. The boy, after climbing off his 
horse's back into the tree, was safely assisted to reach Terra 
Firma, though shaking with fear; but we had greater diffi- 
culty in extricating the poor beast, which we effected, though 
with some bruises. 'The continued rain rendered our pro- 
gress difficult; at the Botanic Garden we stopped to feed 
our mules, and reached Kingston about six o’clock in the 
evening, having had a pleasant ride over the plain of Liguanea, 
which we found quite destiiute of verdure, for although rain 
had been so abundant in the mountains, not a drop had 
fallen on these arid plains. 
At Kingston I was closely occupied for some days in pre- 
paring my collections for shipment. The heat became 
intense, the thermometer averaging 90? in the twenty-four 
hours during several days. My packages not arriving from 
Bath, it was necessary to take only short excursions and I 
accordingly started early on the 9th August to St. John's. 
At the Ferry, I made arrangements for exploring the Lagoons 
of the vicinity, on my return. The plains afforded me but 
a few species of Cassia and three of Mimosa; a gigantie 
Fern formed impenetrable brakes beneath the shade of 
the Mangroves ; the open salt marshes (or saline) are com- 
plete fields of Batis maritima, imparting a lively hue to 
these otherwise barren tracts. The quantity of dead cattle 
lying on this road form a perfect nuisance, their carcases 
swarming with that loathsome but useful bird, the John Crow. 
Notwithstanding recent deaths, the road is literally strewed 
with the bones of departed generations of cattle, the heat of 
the plain destroying them in great quantity and none of the 
bodies are ever removed from the roads. To day I counted 
Six, that had died in the preceding twenty-four hours, and it 
1s only astonishing that more disease is not generated. At 
the Ferry I was much struck with a noble Palm, probably a 
Species of Cocos, but presenting its leaves edgewise to the 
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