5 f rip t0 Cttbit anir tlu .ioutbtrn states, |]fl. 



" Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue 

 Apiiear'd, with gay enamell'd colors mix'd." 



HE Bishop's garden has been abandoned to take care of 

 itself, the Cubans having cut down his salary from one 

 hundred thousand dollars a year to fifteen, yet it still pre- 

 sents scenes of great beauty, which the rapid vegetation 

 going on all around must soon obliterate. Here we first 

 saw the Bamboo, growing in large clusters in a moist 

 spot. It is an extremely beautiful plant, of rapid growth, 

 soon forming an impenetrable jungle, and yielding a 

 grateful shade from the midday sun, now (in early March) 

 a little oppressive when not accompanied by the usual 

 breeze. Employed for a shady avenue, nothing can ex- 

 ceed the Bamboo. The Bishop's house here was a very 

 small one, apparently only employed for a day's resi- 

 It has been unroofed (probably by a hurricane), and, at each front 

 corner, a plant that is becoming a tree, has taken root in the coral rock of which 

 the house is built, and its roots have descended nearly to the ground, as seen 

 below. When the plant has fully established itself in the earth (it is now like the 

 air-plants, sustaining itself on the moisture of the air), it will grow with great 

 rapidity, and possibly envelop the whole house with its fibres. As this kind 

 of growth is very common, we shall take this opportunity of describing the 



dence. 



THE bishop's house IN THE DESERTED GAKDEX. 



YoL. YII —Aug. 1857. 



