4GG Information respecting Botanical Travellers. 



town of Olinda, and if it were all under cultivation would be of 

 considerable size. The residence of the Professor stands nearly in 

 the centre ; it is a small building, of a single story. We found Dr. 

 Serpa in his study, a rather large apartment, which he also uses for 

 a lecture room ; and were impressed by the intelligent and agreeable 

 manners of the old gentleman, who is perhaps above sixty years of 

 age ; and, besides his other duties, has the principal medical practice 

 in the town of Olinda. A few French works on botany and agri- 

 culture compose the chief part of his very limited library; among them 

 I observed a complete set of the Flora Fluminensis, by Padre Vel- 

 lozo. He showed me also three volumes of original drawings of 

 indigenous and exotic plants, executed by his sons in illustration of 

 the Linnsean system ; many of them, however, were incorrectly 

 named ; Cicca disticha for instance being called Ribes Grossularia. 



Dr. Serpa then accompanied us in a walk round the garden, which 

 contained little worthy of notice ; a few European plants, struggling 

 for existence, and some large Indian trees being its chief productions : 

 among the trees, however, were fine specimens of mango, tamarind, 

 and cinnamon. We afterwards proceeded to see a little of the neigh- 

 bouring country, where I hoped to find something more interesting 

 than within the precincts of the garden, and in this expectation I was 

 not disappointed, having collected several species new to me, among 

 them Cuphcea flava, which is common in dry situations in this pro- 

 vince, and a curious Eriocaulon. After visiting some of the churches, 

 and the ruins of an old convent, now inhabited by a hermit, we re- 

 turned in a canoe to Receife. 



About a fortnight after my arrival at Pernambuco, Dr. Loudon 

 removed to his country-house, situated on the banks of the Rio Capi- 

 baribe, about four miles west from Receife. The country round, be- 

 ing chiefly uncultivated, afforded ample scope for my researches. In 

 a low marshy spot near the house I found a good many Cyperaceee 

 and Graminece, and great plenty of the curious Pangatium indicum 

 (Lamarck) ; and in the same marsh, as well as along the banks of 

 the river, are some large trees of Avicennia nitida, some of their stems 

 measuring 5 feet in circumference, and rising unbranched to a height 

 of more than 20 feet. Near the entrance of Dr. Loudon's house stands 

 a large tree belonging to the natural order Chrysobalanea, perhaps a 

 species of Moquilea (No. 992 of this collection). The stem is of con- 

 siderable thickness, quite straight, and rises undivided to the height 

 of upwards of 35 feet ; below it is much ribbed, and at the summit 

 is crowned by a top not unlike that of an European beech ; upon 

 the whole it is one of the finest trees I have seen in this country, not 



