3S * MISSION OF COLLECTOR TO BRAZIL. 



reach. No. 3 {Hedyotis, sp.) of the dried collection grows plenti- 

 fully here; it creeps over the bushes in the forest, covering them 

 with its pale white hlossoms, which smell like those of the haw- 

 thorn at home, 



June Idth, — Started this morning to ascend the Pedra Bonita 

 mountain; it lies to the eastward of Tijuca between that place and 

 the sea. The road winds round the side of a hill into another 

 valley, from which the ascent is made. The sides of this moun- 

 tain are covered witli coffee plantations to a considerable height, 

 but much of what has once been cleared has for some vears been 

 left to nature again, and is now covered with long grass, shrubs, 

 and creepers of various species. The peak itself is too bare of 

 soil to nourish so rank a vegetation. While here I looked for 

 the Cattleya which Dr. Gardener mentioiis having seen on the 

 edge of the precipitous side of the mountain, but could see no 

 trace of it. I saw, however, do^vn the steep side, on a shelf of 

 the rock, some shrubs covered with the beautiful orange flowers 

 ot the Bignonia venusta. 



June \ith, — Visited the low ground at the south bottom of 

 the Tijuca valley; but met with nothing worthy of particular 

 notice. Whei'ever the land is diy enough to be cultivable it is 

 planted with bananas, mandioc, and sugarcane ; but a great part 

 is marshy and covered with tall reeds. On my way back I visited 

 the " Cascada Grande da Tijuca," where the stream that runs 

 down the valley rashes over two inclined planes of rock, each 

 about 80 feet in height. When the rains of the wet seasons have 

 swollen the stream this must be a pretty cascade, but at present 

 there is very little water. 



June l&th. — Had a long ramble to-day in the same localities I 

 had visited on the 19th and 13th. On a rock in the same forest 

 that I found the three plants of Cattleya, I found a single plant of 

 a Cattleya-like orchid which I collected, and with the other Cattleyas 

 have fastened to a tree, where I will be able to find them amin 

 without any trouble. Salvia splendeiis is common in these forests, 

 and a red flowered creeping Columuea, whicli is often seen in 

 gardens at home. There are also many kinds of ferns, most of 

 ■which are also at home; one a species of Adiantum, No. 4 

 (Adiantopsis radiata, Fee), struck me as pretty, and which I had 

 not seen before, its pinnae being arranged in a peltate manner 

 round the footstalk. Finding that I should he able to get many 

 new things here, T have resolved to leave Tijuca on Monday 



