Foreign Mtlces. 433 



give me a letter to Dr. Serpa, the Professor of Botany and Curator of 

 the Botanic Garden at Olinda. 



For the first few days my walks extended but little beyond the suburbs 

 of the town. The country is quite Hat, and the soil very sandy; and as 

 the dry season had commenced, the herbaceous vegetation on the more 

 exposed situations was beginning to sutfer for want of rain. For many 

 miles round the town of Pernambuco, the cocoanut and other large 

 palms grow in the greatest profusion, mixed with fine trees of Jlnacar- 

 dium Qccidentale (the Cashew,) then loaded with large yellow or red- 

 dish-colored fruits; with mangoes (Mangifera indica) which here at- 

 tain a much larger size than at liio, though still far from equalling those 

 of Bahia; and the two species of bread fruit (Jlrtocarpus incisa, and Jl. 

 integrifolia,) the ends of the branches in the former, and the trunks and 

 main boughs of the latter supporting their monstrous fruits. More at- 

 tention seems to be paid here than at Rio, to the gardens which are at- 

 tached to the houses near the town, many of them being adorned with 

 beautiful flowering shrubs, chiefly of Indian origin. During my first 

 walks I collected specimens of the following plants: Turnera Irionifio- 

 ra, which grows profusely in waste and cultivated spots, and by I'oad 

 sides, even decorating some of the less frequented streets with its large 

 pale yellow flowers, which only expand during the early part of the 

 day; and, in the same situations, a fine large blossomed species oi' liich- 

 ardsonia, Boerhaavia hirsuta, and Jlrgemone mexicana. In marshy 

 places, which v/ere beginning to be dried up, I found fine specimens of 

 Pontederia paniculata, Hydrolea spinosa, and a small jjurple-flowered 

 Jlmmannia. In spots which were either now under cultivation, or had 

 once been so, grew Ely tr aria tridcniata, a narrow-leaved Stachytarphe- 

 ta,Jlngelonia pubescens, Monnieria trifolia, a small Eriocaulon, several 

 small LeguminoscB, and Conoclinium prasiifolium, DC. Where the 

 ground was dry, and among bushes, I observed Hirtella raesmosa, in 

 great plenty and full bloom, together with asmall frutescent Malpighia- 

 ceous plant, and Jatropha urens, and J. gossypiifolia, the latter some- 

 times attaining the stature of a tree, and being not unfrequently used for 

 hedges. The Mimosce and the fences, as about Rio, are festooned with 

 Maipighice, Bignonke, Ipomcecc and Leguminosce, of which the cowitch 

 plant {Stizolobium urens) was the most abundant, and, minfrling in 

 many places with a species of Dodder {Cuscuta graveolensl of Kuuth,) 

 which twines over the hedges with its long yellow cord-like branches, 

 gives to the surrounding scenery a most singular appearance. 



On the twenty-first of October I proceeded to visit Dr. Serpa and the 

 Botanic Garden of Olinda, accompanied by a Mr. Nash, a young Eng- 

 lish gentleman, to whom I am indebted for many acts of kindness. 

 There are three ways by which Olinda may be reached from Reccife; 

 one is along the sea-shore, but, from the loose sandy nature of the soil, 

 and the complete exposure of the traveller to the sun, this course is sel- 

 dom taken; another is to proceed in canoes up the river, by which the 

 large freshwater lakes that arc situated behind Olinda emjjty themselves 

 into the sea. This stream runs almost parallel with the shore, from which 

 it is separated by a high sand-bank. The third and last way was that 

 which we pursued, namely, a road that keeps the inland side of the riv- 

 er, though at a considerable distance from it. This road is quite level, 

 and at both ends arc situated several fine country-houses, though much 

 of it passes through waste and uncultivated land; and a considerable por- 

 tion is bounded by the lake. Occasionally Mimosa hedges inclose it, 

 where I observed a great profusion of a small white-flowered Jasininwn, 

 Avhich at the early hour when we passed was perfuming the air with its 

 delightful fragrance, and a si>ecies of Securidaca, that, in similar situa- 

 tions, displayed its large clusters of rich purple flowers. 



VOL. IV. — NO. XI. 55 



