68 TRINIDAD. 



climates, is dense and luxuriant. Some trees attain the loftiest 

 heights, and display the most majestic forms. In the palm 

 family, the Moriche (Manritia) and Mountain-cabbage (Oreodoxa) 

 grow perfectly straight like columns, supporting a tuft of fan-like 

 and pinnated leaves : over its humble associates towers the giant 

 Cedar, whilst the noble Balata rears its magnificent trunk, ex- 

 panding above in vigorous branches clothed with a dark green 

 foliage. The Poui and Bois Immortel periodically change their 

 verdant foliage — the former for a thick covering of pure yellow, 

 the latter of brilliant crimson blossoms; and, in like manner 

 also, the flowering Roble assumes its orange-coloured garment, 

 and spreads far around a delicious perfume. The Ceyba, the 

 Sand-box, and Wild Plum-trees display, on their branches and 

 along their trunks, a thick vegetation of Epidendra and Til- 

 landsias. The underbrush, in some parts, is so thick that a 

 passage must be effected with the cutlass. Bauhinias, Bignonias, 

 and other lianes, are everywhere seen climbing up the trunks of 

 the loftiest trees, whilst from the branches of others depend the 

 twining roots of the Mamure (Carludovicia) and the Seguine 

 (Philodendrum). The vigorous Matapalo (Ulusia), accidentally 

 implanted on some tree, sends down into the soil its cable-like 

 root, meanwhile encircling its supporter with an inextricable net- 

 work of pliant root-stems, which, by a gradual yet rapid growth, 

 eventually stifle and destroy the most luxuriant tree. In copses 

 are met the more humble individuals of the vegetable kingdom — 

 the beautiful Passiflora, the delicate Convolvulus, the more robust 

 Bignonia, and the useful Guaco and Pareira Brava. Poisonous 

 as well as wholesome medicinal plants grow everywhere; and 

 from our forests we may draw an almost inexhaustible supply of 

 valuable timber, as well as cabinet and other woods, applicable 

 to all descriptions of useful purposes. 



The culture of only a few of our indigenous vegetables has, 

 as yet, been attempted, though many more might perhaps be 

 cultivated to advantage. Those, however, which — whether indi- 

 genous or exotic — form the basis of our agriculture, exhibit the 

 same luxuriance of growth as the spontaneous vegetation. 



The sugar-cane, when cultivated in virgin and congenial soils, 

 displays a vigour such as to call forth the admiration even of the 

 casual observer, and how much more to elate the rational 

 hopes of the interested planter. The cacao-tree reaches, in our 



