1 72 Mr. Gardner's Journey to the Organ Mountains, 



formis, Cybianthus cuneifolius, (Mart.) which is very abundant, 

 and several fruticose Composite?. 



3rd. Herbaceous Plants. — These are often very numerous, 

 particularly in moist shady situations. They consist of great 

 profusion of ferns, sufiruticose and herbaceous species of Be- 

 gonia, some of them with very large foliage, and rising to the 

 height of twelve and fifteen feet. In dry rocky places Brome- 

 liacece, Orchidece, and Dorstenice prevail, mixed with suffru- 

 ticose and tuberous-rooted species of Gesneriacece. 



Having thus given a general view of the vegetation of the 

 Organ Mountains at an elevation of three thousand feet above 

 the level of the sea, I shall now offer an account of two jour- 

 neys which I made to the high peaks of that range. The es- 

 timated altitude of the loftiest point is six thousand feet, and 

 consequently is three thousand feet above Mr. March's house, 

 which is the highest on the range. The only botanists who 

 have visited his estate are Langsdorff, Burchell, and a German 

 of the name of Lhotsky. The former explored the vegetation 

 in the neighbourhood of the fazenda during a few weeks, 

 about twelve or thirteen years ago ; Mr. Burchell remained 

 six w T eeks, nine or ten years since ; and Lhotsky two or three 

 weeks only, five years ago. None of them botanized higher 

 than the level of Mr. March's house, and the knowledge of 

 this fact made me the more anxious to spend a few days 

 among the high peaks for the purpose of making collections 

 of their vegetable productions. I had fixed on the early 

 part of April for going up, but the whole of that month was 

 so wet that I was prevented at that time from putting my de- 

 sign into execution. May however having set in fine, I set 

 off on the morning of the 6th accompanied by four negroes. 

 One of them, a Creole upwards of sixty years of age, was to 

 act as guide. This old fellow is one of the most active, not 

 only of blacks, but of any individual of his years I have ever 

 seen. From his infancy he had been used to the woods, and 

 is one of the best hunters on the estate. The other three 

 were engaged to carry provisions and to assist in taking home 

 my collections. We entered the forest at about a mile to the 

 north of Mr. March's house, and our route for that day was 



