60 BOTANY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE SULPHUR. 
Cacti. Some of them were of considerable height, sending numerous branches 
upwards from a hard solid woody trunk, and these branching again and forming a 
moderate sized tree. 7 
In the neighbourhood is Salango, and here we were surprised at the re- 
assumed luxuriance. The forest was densely filled with underwood, the trees 
were loaded with climbers, and Piper, Passiflora, and Cleome, melastomaceous 
plants, palms and ferns abounded ; sure indications of a climate of excess of heat 
and moisture. We afterwards learned that in a wide-spread tract of great aridity, 
within a limited space around Salango, a vegetation characteristic of excessive 
moisture prevailed. The cause of this was hidden from us, but on a coast where 
a stream of water is a rarity, the existence of a perennial one was likely to have 
much weight, though it is most probable that the condition of the vegetation and 
the unfailing stream were effects of the same cause. Rivers and streams of water 
are in most cases more the drains than fertilizers of the districts they traverse. 
At Monte Christi every thing was again burnt up. Not a leaf was to be 
found on the bushes which covered the sandy soil, and several exceedingly prickly 
Cactee made walking unpleasant. Nota bird enlivened the scene. A little ver- 
dure was alone visible on the mount whence the town has its name. -Bombax 
ceiba grows abundantly, and the softer parts of the wood are given to the horses 
and mules for fodder, so scarce is their usual food. 
Tacames, San Pedro, Tumaco. On entering the northern hemisphere, a great 
improvement is conspicuous in the vegetation. Every place visited was clothed 
in a rich and luxuriant vegetation. On all sides is seen a rather dense forest, but 
of trees not distinguished for their size, and among them the singular Clusia 
abounds, with a sprinkling of palms of Licuala and Caryota. At Tacames a 
prominent feature is the great abundance of Euphorbiacee ; Hippomane manct- 
nella was very common, especially as an edging to the forest near the beach ; large 
trees were frequently growing in the immediate vicinity of the houses of the inha- 
bitants, and there can be now no doubt that the wonderful agency formerly attri- 
buted to this tree is in great part erroneous. Orchidacee make their appearance 
in some force, and there is an interesting mixture of a few shrubby Composite, 
with a crowd of common tropical forms. 
The Island of Gorgona is within the influence of the very moist climate of 
the Bay of Choco, and the vegetation exhibits a corresponding rank luxuriance, 
ae ~~ sae the occurrence of arborescent ferns of Pteris 
sae gba ~~ also make their first appearance on the neighbouring 
: easy to convey an overdrawn picture of the excessive 
luxuriance of the foliage at the places visited, but it is a more profitable field to 
the observing botanist than to the collector. 
