292 PROFESSOR SMITH'S JOURNAL. 



The breze sets in to day somewhat early, or about eleven 

 o'clock, but, as usual, is scanty. It generally begins first 

 to blow fresh after it is dark, when we are obliged of course 

 to remain at anchor, We proceeded at a slow rate along 

 the coast. Our black pilot steered between the two islands 

 to the northward (where the boats touched the very bottom) 

 and into the great channel along Monkey Island. The 

 picturesque and varied scenes occasioned by the thickets 

 and forests have now disappeared. We have now passed 

 the mangrove country, and see only thickets of Hibiscus 

 near the water, Avith some solitary trees. To the right the 

 low land is thickly overgrown with high grass like a corn- 

 field. No forests are now visible, unless that name should 

 be given to vast ranges of the Ci/perus popi/rus, which with 

 their lofty and waving tops present a singular appearance. 

 Farther up some scattered Hijphcene palms are still visible. 

 The appearance which these two plants give to the whole 

 country strongly reminds me of the drawings of Egyptian 

 landscapes. The palms as Ave proceed increase in number, 

 forming groups, and higher up even whole forests. Great 

 numbers of the natives make their appearance on the shore, 

 walking about in the grass between the thickets. We are 

 just by the village of Maliba, whose name is derived from 

 its palms. When it greAv dark we anchored a little higher 

 up, a few fathoms from the shore. A black cloud for the 

 first time made its appearance in the northern horizon. 

 The negroes told us that it Avas the prognostic of the ap- 

 proaching rainy season. While I am writing this at our 

 anchorage I hear the evening music of the grasshoppers. 



