8 THE BERMUDA ISLANDS. 



height of the common banana, and, although its leaves are 

 largely wind-rifted, it never presents the shabby appearance of 

 the latter. 



Among the other distinctive accompaniments of the road- 

 side are the aloe and yucca, or Spanish bayonet. The flowering 

 stems of the former, rising twenty or twenty-five feet in height, 

 are not an uncommon feature in the landscape of the garden- 

 tracts. Of the fifteen or more species of cactus now found on 

 the islands, some of which, like the Turk's cap, or melon cac- 

 tus, and the night-blooming cereus, are extensively cultivated 

 in the gardens, only one, the prickly-pear (Opuntia vulgaris), 

 can be said to be at all common. It is found scattered here 

 and there about the sandy wastes, or hanging in sprawling 

 masses from the road walls. Some notion of the luxuriance of 

 growth may be had from the condition of the plants of the 

 night-blooming cereus. Shortly before our departure from 

 the islands we were hospitably invited to visit a plant of this 

 species in the garden of a Mrs. Peniston, just outside of Flatts 

 Village. It is scarcely necessary to say that we were surprised 

 when we beheld a plant covering an area equal to that of a fair- 

 sized room, and supporting upwards of 200 of the most superb 

 flowers! Well may the tourist go back down-hearted to his 

 native conservatory. 



But this is not the only instance where a comparison be- 

 tween home and foreign products may give rise to sad reflec- 

 tions. Alas, how sadly changed must be the conception of a 

 rubber-plant, after one, who had hitherto been accustomed 

 only to the "wonders" of the drawing-room and conservatory, 

 has seen the monster, stretching forth its arms like an oak, 

 at " Par le Ville," Hamilton ! 



If, however, the eye is riveted to these remarkable forms of 

 vegetality, it meets only with disappointment when it scans 

 the usually sparse herbaceous vegetation of the woodlands, or 

 that which covers the open meadows and rock-surfaces. We 

 look in vain for that rich, dense green which forms the sunny 

 undergrowth of our forests, for the crop of weed and grass which 



