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the following: day, while Chapin and I stayed heh'md and collected 

 about the plantation. The mountaineering jiarty returned late in 

 the afternoon after a gruelling- day of thicket-chopping in a swelter- 

 ing sun and with a deficient supply of water. Our drinking water 

 was limited to half a barrel of rain water of dubious quality. Next 

 day Chapin and I accompanied the party up the moimtain. the route 

 being the dry bed of a stream which the previous }-ear (1929) had 

 been a raging torrent. We passed through the luxuriant second 

 growth which had tested the endurance of the mountainecrine 

 group on the previous day. Boulders, some water-worn, heaped 

 upon one another were common, and from between them and under 

 the projecting banks were large nmnbers of ferns, especially spe- 

 cies of Adiantiiin. The ascent became wikler. At 1000 feet by 

 our barometers the leading man called out " Niagara Falls." Be- 

 fore us at the head of a canyon was an unscalable wall of black 

 lava which at times must have had an interesting water fall. Over- 

 hanging the canyon appeared a handsome purple-flowered shrub, 

 which I recognized as a meml)cr of the great tropical family 

 Melastomaceac. This i)lant is undoubtedly Miconia Robinsoniana. 

 On an overhanging shelf far above could be seen a dense clump 

 of goldenrod-like plants, Erigcron fciuiifolius. Four more Ni- 

 agaras of smaller size impeded our ascent, and the brook bed be- 

 came a hopeless tangle of Miconia, 5-20 feet in height, which 

 required the most strenuous cutting in order to break through. 

 At 1450 feet welcome showers cooled us. The brook became a 

 flat and swam])-likc area of Miconia, so we veered to the right and 

 U[)ward. The Miconia thickets continued. Here and there were 

 Xanthoxylon trees and a few of the vines and shrulis noted in the 

 Scalesia forests below. The ground had become soft and some- 

 what boggy underfoot, due probably to the great accumulation of 

 humus. Oiu- direction was wholly by compass. The vegetation 

 was too tall to see over, and the view obtained by climbing offered 

 nothing but the same shrubby landscape. We turned back over the 

 slippery trail. 



On the following day we climbed to our previous point of de- 

 parture. From a hillside at 1670 feet we got our only glimpse of 

 the ocean. Far off iiT the distance could be seen heavy white surf 

 about the entrance to Academy Bay. Again we plunged into the 

 thicket of Miconia and ferns, cutting this time to 2100 feet. The 



