FLORA OF THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. CI 
predilection for Natural History, he conceived the plan of combining with a trading voyage 
the exploration of tropical countries. Leaving Chili, he touched at various ports of Ecuador, 
and reached Panama roads in 1829, towards the close of the dry season. lie visited Taboga, 
the Pearl Islands, the neighbourhood of Panama, the Bay of Montijo, and the river Chiriqui, 
everywhere pursuing the object of his voyage. On his return to England some of his 
collections passed into the hands of Sh- William Hooker and other emiucnt naturalists ; a 
list of the OrcMdcce was pubhshed by Dr. Lindley, in the first volume of the ' Journal of 
Botany/ The Flora was next investigated by George Barclay, who was attached to H.M.S. 
Sulphur, and during the years 1837, 38, and 39, explored the Bay of Panama, Coyba, 
and Veraguas. The surgeon of the Expedition, Brinsley Hinds, also gathered botanical 
specimens, and it was chiefly his materials which formed the basis of Bentham's * Botany 
of H.M.S. Sulphur,' a w^ork which has obtained a well-merited celebrity. Towards the end 
of 1843 WilhamLobb, from the nursery of Messrs. Veitch, at Exeter, spent some months 
in the neighbourhood of Panama and the river Chagres. 
During portions of the years 1846, 47, 48, and 49, the author made journeys into 
the interior of Veraguas, Panama, and Darien, visiting the whole coast of the Pacific side 
of the Isthmus, and passing districts which had never been trodden by any botanist. Several 
of his plants have been figured and described by Sir WilHam J. Hooker in the ^ Botanical 
Magazine* and the ' Jom^nal of Botany/ Towards the latter part of 1848, J. Wai'szcwic^, 
a native of Poland, paid a visit to Panama and Veraguas, where he collected a great many, 
chiefly living, plants. In 1850 A. Eendler, the enterprising traveller who has done so much 
towards extending our knowledge of New Mexico, staid some time at Chagres, and brought 
together a very extensive herbarium. In the foUomng year, 1851, J. A\arszewiez made 
another iourncy to Veraguas. . • j 
Such is a sketcL of the history of those who, during the course of three centunes and 
a half, have laboured to explore the Isthmus of Panama. The little that has been achieved 
shows that it is not from the investigation of visitors, however learned or .ealous they may 
be, that a more perfect knowledge must be expected, ^cre ^ ature ^\^ l"^-^'^^^]^ 
fold in her forms, nothing save a steady course of inqmry earned on by those res drngm 
the country canlead to a satisfactory end. Fortunate!, in severa parts of South Amenca 
there are springing up men eagerly devoted to Natm-al History, and so great is the mtellee- 
^^^l^L has been^made since the Independence, that the time does not seem 
distant :hen the inhabitants wiU turn from the active scenes of civil strife, to the pacific 
■regions of the Vegetable Kingdom. 
