14 THE VOYAGE. 



Panama Kailway Company are really delightful 

 residences, overshadowed by cocoanut trees, and 

 surrounded by perfect bijous of gardens en- 

 tirely reclaimed from the swamps: the papaw, 

 the banana, blossoming creeping plants, fruit- 

 bearins; vines, and curious orchids, all growine 



o o 



together, a wild tangle of loveliness, yielding 

 beauty, fruits, and shade. The cool verandah, and 

 cane-chairs from China, together with the com- 

 fortably-furnished interior, gave ample proof that 

 the products of a tropical country may be used 

 to good account, as additions to our northern ideas 

 of a substantial home. 



One of the most singular flowers growing in 

 this pretty garden was an orchid, called by the 

 natives ' Flor del Espiritu Santo,' or the 'Flower 

 of the Holy Ghost.' The blossom, white as 

 Parian-marble, somewhat resembles the tulip in 

 form ; its perfume is not unlike that of the mag- 

 nolia, but more intense; neither its beauty nor 

 fragrance begat for it the high reverence in 

 which it is held, but the image of a dove placed 

 in its centre. Gathering the freshly-opened 

 flower, and pulling apart its alabaster petals, 

 there sits the dove; its slender pinions droop 

 listlessly by its side, the head inclining gently 

 forward, as if bowed in humble submission, brings 



