44 A NATURALIST OX THE "CHALLENGER." 



Green Mountain. It was raining, and the coal contractor on 

 shore, who arranged matters for our trip, warned us that we 

 should all catch a terrible fever if we went and got wet. We 

 went however, and did not suffer, and I cannot help thinking 

 that it is to some extent the extremely rare occurrence of 

 rain which inspires dread of it in St. Vincent. Our party of 

 three started on two ponies and a donkey, over the latter of which 

 Murray soon broke a pet walking-stick of mine of Bermuda 

 juniper, in trying to urge him into the right path. A strapping 

 negress, one of the coaling gang, started on foot for the mountain 

 with the lunch on her head. 



The road led over the bottom of the old crater, and then up 

 the steeper end of the mountain by a zigzag path in places built 

 up in steps and in others hewn out of the rock. The soft friable 

 soil of the plain was in many places already converted into 

 tenacious mud by the rain. 



As the hill-slopes are ascended from the plains, the plants 

 become greener and more abundant. In a narrow gorge at the 

 commencement of the ascent of the mountain, some small 

 gardens were passed, at an elevation of about 200 feet above 

 sea level. They contained sugar-cane, pumpkins, and a small 

 date palm ; and maize was just being planted in them. There 

 were a few cotton bushes growing near. At 700 feet, Euphorbias 

 and woody Composites commenced, and the hill-side was covered 

 with coarse dry grass. At 1,000 feet, small Boraginaceous bushes 

 with pink flowers (Echium stenosiphon) commenced. At 1,300 

 feet I found the first patch of moss and Marchantia, with a fern 

 and a live snail. At 1,700 feet a Statice (S. Jovis barba) was 

 abundant on the cliff. 



The lavender grows right up to the top of the mountain, but 

 is there entirely fresh and green instead of black and withered 

 as below. A leafless trailing Asclepiad (Sarcostemma daltoni) 

 commenced at 900 feet. All the plants on Green Mountain 

 appear to extend their range of growth to the summit. On the 

 summit, the land is all more or less under cultivation, and maize, 

 potatoes, tomatos, and pumpkins grow there. There are several 

 cottages on the summit, and near one is a double circle of large 

 Agaves. 



