(381 



series of wiitlen ])ictnres, presenting vividly to the mind's eye the very 

 scenes which the author himself" beheld, and grouping, with exact 

 method, yet with agreeable ease, the characters which communicate 

 to the landscape and the land their greatest interest, alike to the en- 

 thusiastic explorer, and the sober, plodding student in the science- 

 halls of distant Europe. But we feel that in instances like these the 

 mere expression of our approbation is insufficient, and that we can 

 only do justice to our author, and at the same time justify our own ex- 

 alted estimate of his labours, by extracting largely from his instructive 

 pages ; and we shall do this without commenting on the particular 

 subjects he has so ably handled, leaving our extended quotations to 

 exercise their own unaided influence on the mind of the reader. 



" The aspect of the flora is much more diversified than the unifor- 

 mity of the climate and the surface of the country would lead one to 

 expect. The sea coast and those parts influenced by the tides and 

 the immediate evaporation of the sea, produce a quite peculiar vege- 

 tation, which is generally characterized by a leathery, glossy foliage, 

 and leaves with entire margins. In all muddy places, down to the 

 verge of the ocean, are impenetrable thickets, formed of Mangroves, 

 chiefly Rhizophoras and Avicennias, which exhale putrid miasmata 

 and spread sickness over the adjacent districts. Occasionally exten- 

 sive tracts are covered with the Guagara de puerco {AcrosticJmm au- 

 reum, Linn.), its fronds being as much as ten feet high. Myriads of 

 mosquitoes and sand-flies fill the air ; huge alligators sun themselves 

 on the slimy banks, lying motionless, blinking with their great eyes, 

 and jumping into the water directly anyone approaches. To destroy 

 these dreaded swamps is almost impossible ; the Avicennias, with 

 their Asparagus-like rhizomata, send up innumerable young shoots 

 whenever the main stem is felled ; the Rhizophoias extend in all 

 directions their long aerial roots, which soon reach the ground and 

 preserve the trees from falling, after their terrestrial roots have lifted 

 them high above the original level. At Panama, where the tide rises 

 to the height of twenty-two feet, these trees are frequently under wa- 

 ter, the heavy surf washing their tops, apparently without injuring or 

 checking their growth ; indeed, so well has nature provided for them, 

 that the seed of the Rhizophoras begins to germinate while the fruit 

 is yet attached to the tree, and it is not until it has sprouted out to the 

 length of some inches that it drops, as a young plant, into the mud 

 below. Rivers, as far they are subjected to the influence of the ebb 

 and flow, are full of Mangroves and the highest Rhizophoras, which, 

 growing always on that side where there is the deepest water, assist 

 VOL. IV. 4 S 



