BOTANY. 457 



seracese, Simarubacese and Diosmeae, Melastomaceae and Myr- 

 taceae, Chrysobalanaceae, and, lastly, perhaps the richest family, 

 Leguimnosse, or Fabacese, including Swartzieae, and Mimoseaa. 

 A glance at this list of families shows at once the difference which 

 exists between these forests and those of higher latitudes, where, 

 not only a few families, but also a few species, form the whole 

 woodland vegetation. Nor ought it to be believed that only a 

 paucity of the above families is met with in each forest, for the 

 aggregate is almost everywhere of the same variety, whilst the 

 species, and genera, perhaps, are different. In plains, with a 

 fertile soil, for instance, certain forms predominate, without 

 altogether excluding others ; and the like arrangement occurs in 

 other localities. A rich soil is generally indicated by the cabbage- 

 palm (Areca Oleracea), and the carat (Oopernicia) ; whereas, the 

 timit (Manicaria) grows in light sandy soils, generally in com- 

 pany of a variety of trees of the myrtle tribe. In general, palms 

 are indicative of the quality of the soil, and of the respective 

 productions which can be raised on a given spot. 



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 Cydanthes, or frowning nettles, some of the 

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



