458 TRINIDAD. 



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 per- 

 ceive 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 Chorro, 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 Taberncemontana, 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, 

 the names of the fairy forms that surround us ; whilst a host of 

 crickets and lizards chirp and whistle under concealment of the 

 decaying leaves, making holyday the whole year round. That 

 shrubbery above is composed of a species of Bcehmeria, or Ardisia, 

 and that scarlet flower belongs to our native Aphelandra. In the 

 rear, there are one or two Philodendrons disagreeable guests ; 

 for their smell is bad enough, and they blister when imprudently 

 touched. There also you may see a tree-fern, though a small 

 one. Nearer to us, and low down, below our feet, that rich 

 panicle of flowers belongs to a Begonia ; and here, also, is an 

 assemblage of ferns of the genera Asplewum, Hymenophyllum 

 and Trichomanes, as well as of Hepaticce and mosses. But, what 

 are those yellow and purple flowers hanging above our heads ? 

 They are Bignonias and Mucunas creepers straying from afar, 

 and having selected this spot, where they may, under the influence 

 of the sun's beams, propagate their race. Those chain-like, fan- 

 tastic, strange-looking lianes, resembling a family of boas, are 

 Bauliinias ; and beyond, through the opening, you see in the 

 abandoned ground of some squatter's garden, the trumpet-tree 

 (Cecropia), and the groo-groo, the characteristic plants of the 

 rastrajo. 



Now, let us proceed on our walk ; we are near the cascade : 

 Here it is opposite you, a grand spectacle, indeed ! From a 



