BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 21 
sion. We saw several small ponds overrun with Arum 
seguinum, the Dumb Cane (so called from the cruel use to 
which it was applied in the punishment of the negroes), and 
several Cyperaceous plants. 1 have every where observed 
the comparative want of aquatic plants in the ponds and 
lagoons of Jamaica. We arrived at Lloyd's estate about 
six o'clock p.m., and I was obligingly lodged by the intelli- 
gent overseer, Mr. Reid. This place is famous for its large 
Shaddock Trees, which are certainly very fine and show beau- 
tifully, laden with their large globular fruit. The pulp is of 
alovely pink colour, but in my opinion very coarse eating, 
though many people are fond of it; these trees are called 
Queen Charlottes Shaddocks, the reason for which name is 
not correctly known. 
Friday, 11th August.—This day was clear and warm, I set 
out early for the woods to the north of Retreat estate, and 
arrived there about eleven o'clock A.M., thermometer 85° in 
the shade. The whole of this picturesque district was suf- 
fering much from want of rain, the Mountain River, a con- 
siderable stream flowing through the dense woods, about 
three miles from Retreat estate, altogether vanishes after a 
rapid and rocky course of several miles, to appear again in 
the same ravine, about four miles lower. I obtained several 
beautiful Ferns in this wood that I had not before seen, 
with two fine plants of the rare Govenia utriculata, a 
singular terrestrial Orchideous species. Trees on the banks 
of the river afforded me Oncidium triquetrum, a pretty spe- 
cies flowering profusely, along with several leafy kinds of 
Epidendrum, not conspicuous for beauty. The bed of this 
river is remarkable for large masses of isolated rock, kept 
constantly moist from the foaming stream dashing from rock 
to rock and acting as a shower-bath. These rocks are covered 
With a beautiful tapestry of Ferns, protected from the ver- 
tical rays of the sun by a noble forest, upwards of a hundred 
feet in height, but although consisting of the finest timbers 
of the West Indies, it is extremely difficult to obtain speci- 
mens of them. A simple leaf can scarcely he detected from 
