Ill 



conspicuously in the distance. Before me was stretched the 

 plain of Liguanea, bounded towards the South by the sea, and 

 on the East by the precipitous range of the Blue Mountains. 

 The sun had not yet emerged above the horizon, the hills 

 were unclouded, and the outline of their woody ridges was most 

 distinctly marked. The air was cool, the thermometer 

 standing at 64°, and we journeyed on, refreshed by the 

 occasional land-breeze that came across us, laden with the 

 fragrance of flowers — 



».^».,^..>^,..,~»,>>>~ — " Gentle gales 

 Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispensed 

 Native perfumes, and whispered whence they stole 

 Their balmy spoils." 



This is indeed that season of the day when we can boast 

 that this climate affords us all we can desire; the delightful 

 coolness of the matin prime is rendered more grateful by the 

 recollection of the parched noon of the preceding day, the 

 oppressive heat of which a few hours are about to bring 

 back. There is one deficiency, however, that must ever strike 

 the traveller from Europe. No song of the feathered tribes 

 greets him in his way. At times, it is true, he may listen to 

 the lay of our Transatlantic nightingale, {Turdus polyglottus,) 

 as, seated on some spray, it pours its rich and varied note in 

 reply to some other of its species, with whom it would ap- 

 pear to carry on a rivalry in song. More commonly, how- 

 ever, we are annoyed with the harsh cry of the Savannah 

 Black-bird, {Crotophaga Ani,) which gives warning to its com- 

 panions of the approach of a stranger, or to the chirp of the 

 Grass-bird, or the dreary note of the Bald-coot, [Fulica atra,) 

 sounding from some lonely morass. 



The Botany of the immediate neighbourhood of Spanish- 

 Town is far from being interesting. The land which is not 

 cleared for the purposes of pasturage is almost entirely 

 occupied by thickets of Logwood, [Hcematoxylon Campechia- 

 num,) the Poponax, [Acacia tortnosa,) and the Cashaiv, [A. 

 juliflora.) These are all introduced plants, which have be- 

 come naturalized. They are useful as fuel; being recom- 



