THE TROPICAL ZONE. 225 



As we continue our walk along the level ground, our path 

 is often embowered by innumerable plants of delicate Mi- 

 mosas, shining Myrtles, bushy Nightshades, and a countless 

 number of plants with less familiar names, which form an 

 impenetrable thicket around us. Nothing here disturbs our 

 silent enjoyment of these majestic sights, and " nothing in- 

 terrupts the repose and stillness of these woods but the 

 buzz of the gay humming-birds, fluttering from flower to 

 flower, or the singular notes of unknown birds and insects." 



Leaving the aqueduct at a spot where the water falls in 

 beautiful cascades over the granite rocks, we now mount 

 higher up the mountain, and begin to observe a change in 

 the character of the vegetation : it is still " uncommonly 

 strong and luxuriant," but consisting chiefly of low trees 

 and shrubs, and "the higher we ascend, large trees gra- 

 dually become rarer, and Bamboos and Eerns more nume- 

 rous," till having " made our way through the last thicket, 

 we reach the green summit of the mountain, where single 

 shrubs are all we find, with a few small species of the Orchis 

 family, growing in the clefts of the rocks, and beautiful 

 tuberous-rooted scarlet-flowered Gesnerias, the blossoms of 

 which grow in clusters, and are something like those of the 

 Eccremocarpus in size and shape. 



Q 



