March, 1900. Plantve Utowan/E Millspaugh. 5 



of St. Thomas, which we entered early on the morning of the 17th. 

 Here the day was utilized in collecting about the bay shore and on 

 the hillsides south of Charlotte Amalia {364-502). At four o'clock on 

 the morning of the 18th having been so fortunate as to secure the 

 same man who acted as a guide for Baron Eggers in his St. Thomas 

 trips I started across the island by way of the high mountain back 

 of the town. My guide being familiar with the ferny nooks and 

 deep woods where Baron Eggers found many of his more interest- 

 ing species, the trip proved a very profitable one {503-565) and 

 greatly enhanced the value of so short a stay at this island. 



We sailed at noon of the same day for the island of Culebras, 

 a part of our new Porto Rican territory, and aided now by the trade 

 winds, we made the twenty-five miles handsomely before too dark 

 to effect an entrance to the excellent harbor on its southern coast. 



January 19th was spent in work on the northern shores of the 

 bay {566-635), and the morning of the 20th on the seashore south- 

 west of the bay {636-640). The shores of the island are clothed 

 with a dense growth of cacti, agaves and low-spreading rubiaceous 

 and leguminous shrubs covered with bromeliads; the cleared fields 

 in from the coast are, however, fertile and productive, and in the 

 pastures the backs only of the cattle can be seen as they graze upon 

 the tall, fresh guinea grass. 



At 3 p. M. we weighed anchor, left the harbor, and passing 

 to the eastward rounded Viejas Island and spent the night at sea, 

 reaching Playa, the port of Ponce, at seven the following morning. 

 Taking the sailing launch we visited Ratones Island {650-661), 

 which is being so rapidly washed away by the force of the sea 

 that living clumps of Suriana are still standing in the water nearly 

 a quarter of a mile from the receding shore. I walked back along 

 the shore, collecting the coastal forms {662-684); and in the morning 

 we left the port for Guanica, which was reached at noon. Guanica 

 hill proved a very interesting collecting ground {685-710), and the 

 plain and parched tangle of chapparal on the bay shore well repaid 

 the exertion of an entire hot day on the 22d {711-754 and 755-768). 



Leaving here at ten o'clock in the evening, we arrived off 

 Mona Island at the same hour on the 23d, and drew into an 

 anchorage at El Sardinero, where we attempted to make a land- 

 ing in the dinghy, but without success, the waves being too high to 

 allow us to approach the shore in safety. Reluctantly this coast 

 was abandoned and we moved around the spit into Santa Isabella 

 bay. Here another attempt was made which was again unsuc- 

 cessful, and we were compelled to bear away for our next port 



