VOYAGE TO ST. THOMAS, ST. KITT'S, ETC. 241 
me; but I required time, to become domesticated in this 
new sphere. 
The multitude of plants and flowers which greet one all at 
once, afford indescribable pleasures; it is as if plenty had 
been poured down here by nature. J udge how delighted we 
must have been on our first walk, to find a small hill, en- 
tirely covered with Mimosa sensitiva, prettily recoiling, as if 
frightened, at every step we made. 
The many Cacti and Aloe create singular impressions. 
They are literally inserted into other plants and shrubs. An 
Opuntia, with red and yellow flowers, and prickles which will 
pierce through boots, is used for enclosures, as hawthorns with 
us. Ofthe Cerei some stretch out their arms so high, as to 
become trees ; the lower stem is covered with something 
like a bark overgrown with lichens. I had fancied that such 
stems became gradually indurated, wood-like, and was, there- - 
fore, not a little surprised on probing them with a knife, to 
find them soft. The fruit of several Cacti is eatable, but tastes 
Sweet and insipid. The Melo Cacti have a pretty appearance 
on rocks and walls; they are often larger than a man’s head, 
topped with a fine red tuft. | 
The wild Pine-apple serves also for enclosures, its serrated 
leaves rendering it quite impervious. The common Aloe x 
(Agave) is used for the same purpose, and I shall never for- : 
get the sensations experienced, on beholding, the first time, d 
à long row of these in blossom. . But I liked them still better a 
dispersed singly on the hills, in a perfectly free state. oom 
many are in flower, their blazing yellow blossoms l 
as if a stream of flames were poured out. I tired not with 
looking on these floral sovereigns; they have something 
about them at once elegant and grand. The scape, bearing 
perhaps five thousand flowers, is, at the base, about 4 ioter 
in diameter, and rises to the height of 30 feet ; when dead, 
being then in substance something like decayed wood, it is 
famous for lining insect-cases. It is p $o cork, 
being softer, yet retaining the joins quite as firmly. — | 
The Saas is ie chief. produce of all the islands 
