398 TRINIDAD. 



The northern chain of mountains, covered nearly everywhere 

 with dense forests, is intersected at various angles by numbers of 

 valleys presenting the most lovely character. Generally each 

 valley is watered by a silvery stream, tumbling here and there 

 over rocks and natural dams, ministering in a continuous rain to 

 the strange-looking river-canes, dumb-canes, and balisiers, that 

 voluptuously bend their heads to the drizzly shower which plays 

 incessantly on their glistening leaves, off which the globules roll 

 in a thousand pearls, as from the glossy plumage of the stately 

 swan. Amid such Dryad-haunts as these, well might the poet 

 realise the myth of the bathing nymph, and gloating Pan behind 

 some broad-leafed fern concealed, with all the emotions of the 

 Satyr-God ! 



One of these falls deserves particular notice — the Cascade of 

 Maraccas — in the valley of that name. The high-road leads up 

 the valley a few miles, over hills, and along the windings of the 

 river, exhibiting the varying scenery of our mountain district in 

 the fairest style. There, on the river side, you may admire 

 gigantic pepper trees, or the silvery leaves of the Calathea, the 

 lofty bamboo, inclosing, perhaps, as in a leafy frame, a group of 

 girls bathing beneath its many-stemmed shade, or the fragrant 

 Pothos, the curious Cyclanthes, or frowning nettles, some of the 

 latter from ten to twelve feet high. But how describe the num- 

 berless treasures which everywhere strike the eye of the wander- 

 ing naturalist? Here, on the steep hill-side, the hut of the 

 Conuquero emerges from a few fruit trees, such as the orange, 

 lime, mangoe, and avocado ; and, if he be a Spaniard, you may 

 perceive him sitting on a bench before his door, near a rose or 

 other flower-tree, meditating on better, bygone times, or 

 saddened by the untimely death of a favourite game-cock. 



To reach the Cliorro, or cascade, you strike to the right into 

 a " path " that brings you first to a cacao plantation, through a 

 few rice or maize fields, and then you enter the shade of the 

 virgin forest. Thousands of interesting objects now attract your 

 attention : here, the wonderful Norantia, or the resplendent 

 Calycophyllum, a Taberntemontana, or a Faramea, filling the air 

 afar off with a fragrance of their blossoms ; there, a graceful 

 Heliconia winking at you from out some dark ravine. At the 

 margin of the latter let us take our seat, and, after having had a 

 draught of the crystal element, I will tell you, during our rest, 



