472 Information respecting Botanical Travellers, 



undulation of hill and dale. There is not much large timber, the 

 wooded parts generally consisting of small trees and shrubs, which 

 give to many parts of the island an aspect more like that of an En- 

 glish orchard than an uncultivated equatorial island. Some of the 

 views that we obtained from the hills over which we passed, if not 

 the grandest, were at least the most delightful that I had seen in 

 Brazil. The trees we found to consist chiefly of gempapo (Genipa 

 americana), a beautiful large tree, with dark green foliage and pale 

 yellow flowers ; the cashew (Anacardium occidentale) of which the 

 curious fruit was ripe, the juice of the large receptacle on which the 

 nut is placed affording a most grateful beverage to the wearied tra- 

 veller ; also a fruit tree, abundant both here and about Olinda, the 

 Manguaba of the Brazils, which is of small growth, belonging to the 

 natural order Apocyne^e, and having much the general appearance 

 of an ordinary apple tree, though its small leaves and drooping 

 branches more resemble those of the weeping birch. It bears a yel- 

 low fruit, a little streaked with red on one side, about the size of an 

 Orleans plum, and of delicious flavour, which is brought in great 

 quantities to market. Curatella americana is also common, and we 

 procured both flower and seed of it : the natives call it Cashew brava 

 (wild cashew) from the similarity of its leaves to those of the Ana- 

 cardium. We also saw some fine large trees of a species of Juga (?) 

 with long bipinnate leaves, and the tips of their branches bearing 

 many grand spikes of small yellow flowers. By felling one of the 

 trees we obtained specimens of it. Another kind of Juga with 

 spikes of minute white blossoms was also of frequent occurrence. 

 Some of the shrubs that we met with here were particularly beau- 

 tiful, especially a Byrsoneona, about twelve feet high, of which the 

 broad foliage was woolly, and the inflorescence spicate with bright 

 yellow blossoms ; and a Gomphia of nearly the same size, bearing a 

 profusion of equally golden flowers. 



During the afternoon we walked along the shore to the northward 

 and picked up a few shells, among which were fine specimens of a 

 species of Ianthina containing the animal. Many Portuguese men- 

 of-war, as the Thy sails pelagia is commonly called, had been lately 

 thrown on shore. In a rocky place near the sea we found Jacquinia 

 armillaris, and a little further on, in flat sandy spots, Sophora litto- 

 ralis in great abundance. 



Two days before quitting the island we walked nearly across it, 

 and visited one out of the three sugar plantations which are on it. 

 This excursion made considerable additions to our collections. On 



