Domestic Notices : — England. 525 



From our calculation we found, on the 23d of December, that we could not 

 be far from the northern coast of the Island of Porto Rico, and by break of day 

 were hailed with the cry of " Land! land !" from the mainmast. It was not, 

 however, Porto Rico, but Cape Cabron, in St. Domingo. Our chronometer 

 was not exactly the best, and the violent storm which we had encountered 

 drove us sometimes backwards and sometimes forwards, and thus disarranged 

 our ship's reckoning. We were now 4° more to the westward, that is, 

 in 19° SI' N. L. and 69° 25' w. l. With what a cry of joy did we respond to 

 the announcement of the not far distant land ! and with what delight did 

 I behold it from the top of the mainmast, 120ft. high! Towards midday, 

 when about four miles from land, we distinctly saw the high and long chain 

 of hills, with the Capes Samana, Cabron, and Vieux Francois ; and, on the 

 twenty-fourth morning, we saw Punta Isabelica (Isabella Point), about two 

 miles from us ; and the following day Domingo disappeared, and the eastern 

 point of the Island of Cuba made its appearance; and Cape Maisy and 

 St. Jago de Cuba on the 26th instant. We now steered again more south- 

 wards, so as to avoid the coral banks of the Kayman Islands, and by this 

 means came farther up the Mexican Gulf than it was necessary. About the 

 closing of the old year, and before we reached Cape St. Antonio, the western 

 point of Cuba, another storm arose, which proved to be almost more ter- 

 rific than those we had previously experienced. The ship lay quite on her 

 side, but advanced very rapidly, so that we soon expected to be at the end of 

 the voyage; and, on the 5th of Januarj', we arrived in the harbour of 

 Havanna, after seventy days' sail, during the greater part of which the weather 

 was unfavourable. (Garten Zeitung, p. 185., June 15. 1839.) 



RUSSIA. 



Cronstadt, July 6. 1841. — Our winter has been uncommonly good, but very 

 severe. From its commencement we never had a thaw, till the return of 

 spring demanded a change of weather ; owing to which, the supply of all 

 kinds of provision, except poultry, was most abundant. It is curious to 

 look at the chart, and to think that, at the same moment, I could have on my 

 table fresh fish from the Caspian and White Sea. While furnished during last 

 winter with every luxurj', the want of poultry arose from the scarcity of corn, 

 throughout almost all the provinces which are connected with Moscow and 

 Petersburg, and feeding them was too expensive. On the other hand, the 

 severe frosts have done a good deal of harm to the fruit trees, both apples and 

 cherries. The latter are in many cases destroyed, while on the former the 

 fruit spurs have been killed as well as the growth of last year. The summer 

 and autumn of 1840 were most unusually wet, which contributed to fill the 

 wood with an exuberance of sap, prevented its ripening, and rendered it more 

 susceptible of the frost. There is another evil attendant on the frost ; it raises 

 the trees bodily, and when they settle again, on the earth's thawing, empty 

 spaces remain about the principal roots, as if dug out by some small animal. 

 To conclude, gardening, in our climate, is a most hazardous thing. — C. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The Great American Aloe. — This plant, which is said to flower but once in 

 a century, and very seldom blooms in this country, may just now be seen in 

 great perfection at Ham Green, about five miles from Bristol, the residence of 

 H. B. Bright, Esq. By a gentleman who, by Mr. Bright's invitation, has seen 

 the aloe, and who, from a long residence in tropical climates, and especially the 

 agave's most indisputable habitat, Mexico, can speak with confidence on the 



