Of GUIANA. 53 



Many beaudful plants of the clafs gynandria are their chief orna- 

 ments, as is alfo tlie orchis, which grows in fimilar fituations with 

 you. Some Melaftomas, and more Rhexias, fupply the place, and 

 bear fomewhat of the habit of the Ericas ; for your Sedums and 

 Saxifrages is the little Sauvagefia ; and in hollows of the fame fa- 

 vannahs, where moiflure prevails, what I never could have ex- 

 pelled to fee within five degrees of the line, and not more than 

 50 or 100 feet above the level of the fea, die Drofera lifts ita- 

 humble head from a bed of the Sphagnum paluftre. 



Besides thefe two kinds, there ai-e alfo what we may deno- 

 minate hnlf-favannabs, formed upon the tops of fand-liills, 

 higher and more irregular than in the cafe of thofe juft de- 

 fcribed. Sonie of thefe are alfo very extenfive. Few herbaceous- 

 vegetables are to be met with upon them. Broad fpaces of arid 

 fand are interfedled by clumps of fhrubery. Nothing gjows 

 to the height of a tree ; but a particular fet of plants, different 

 from thofe in other parts of the country, find fubfiflence enough 

 to rife to fifteen or thirty feet. How nature, after all her ef-r 

 forts, ftioiild have failed to induce a foil upon thefe, i& furpri- 

 fing. It appears chiefly owing to the great porofity of the 

 fand, which every where admits- the decayed vegetable matter 

 deflined for that purpofe, to be carried down through it, and 

 filtered off by rain. Even thofe fand-hills which are covered 

 by tall trees, ftill fhew proofs of this.- The trifling layer of 

 mould formed upon them is- exceedingly thin. When cleared 

 they are very barren ; and when you dig in them to a great 

 depth, you flill find fmall portions of black vegetable earth dif^ 

 perfed among the fand. What corroborates the above fuppofi- 

 tion, is the appearance of the fprings. Abundance of thefe are 

 found gufliing out copioufly round the verges of the hills ; and 

 notwithflanding the extreme whitenefs and purity of the fand 

 from whence they flow, there is not one in an hundred whofe 

 waters are limpid. They come out not muddy, but of a 

 brownifh colour, very much like the water which runs from. 



peatT-,.- 



