14 HEPORT OF M. GUILLEMIN. 



than my negroes had done in a mondi, and further, he kindly 

 caused his sailors to carry my chests from Santa Theresa to 

 the place of embarkation. All being ready, I paid my last 

 visit to the Botanic Garden, where I received 700 well-rooted 

 Tea plants, and 2,000 ripe seeds ; the latter were sown by 

 M. Houlet, in the spaces between the growing plants, and 

 the whole occupied 18 large chests. All my arrangements 

 were completed on the 20th of May, when I paid a reluc- 

 tant farewell to the numerous friends who had so kindly 

 noticed me at Rio, and embarked the same evening. 



Very pleasing was the sight to me, when the day after the 

 Heroine had sailed, I beheld my 18 precious boxes, arranged 

 two and two in such a situation as kept them steady and level, 

 permitted them to receive light and to have the moveable 

 pannels closed in case of bad weather. The vigour of my 

 Tea plants and the lovely verdure of their foliage had been 

 generally admired at Rio, and 1 fondly anticipated the most 

 prosperous results from my expedition. But short-lived was 

 this satisfaction. Two days after, heavy north winds drove us 

 off our course, the sea became more boisterous than is usual 

 in these latitudes, and the necessity for closing the ports, lest 

 the spray should irrevocably ruin my plants, caused them a 

 great injury by the necessary exclusion of light. To the 

 latter circumstance, I attribute the first deterioration of my 

 plants, especially those more recently set. When the sea 

 became calmer, and permitted us to open the port holes, 

 the wind sweeping the surface of the waves, cast a fine salt- 

 water spray on my boxes, which doubtless proved highly in- 

 jurious, since the contents of those chests that were exposed 

 to the wind suffered much more than diose on the other side. 

 By the 1 1th of June, most of the Teas had lost their foliage, 

 and the stalks even of several were quite dried up; but I hoped 

 that some might sprout from the root. Some of the seeds 

 had germinated, the young shoots were slender, long, blanched 

 and furnished with a few pale leaves. By the 2d of July, in 

 latitude 24° north, and longitude 42° west, the strongest shrubs 

 were suffering most severely, while some had sent out suckers 





