EOUTE TO BATABA5O. 177 



pLt our collections in order, a thousand obstacles arose to 

 impede oar departure. There was no vessel in the port OJ 

 the Havannah that would convey us to Porto Bello or 

 Carthagena. The persons I consulted seemed to take plea- 

 sure in exaggerating the difficulties of the passage of the 

 isthmus, and the dangerous voyage from Panama to Guya- 

 quil, and from Guyaquil to Lima and Valparaiso. Not 

 being able to find a passage in any neutral vessel, I freighted 

 a Catalonian sloop, lying at Batabano, which was to-be at 

 my disposal to take me either to Porto Bello or Carthagena, 

 according as the gales of Saint Martha might permit.* The 

 prosperous state of commerce at the Havannah, and the 

 multiplied connections of that city with the ports of the 

 Pacific, would facilitate for me the means of procuring funds 

 for several years. General Don Gonzalo O'Farrill resided 

 at that time in my native country, as minister of the court 

 of Spain. I could exchange my revenues in Prussia for a 

 part of his at the island of Cuba ; and the family of Don 

 Ygnacio OTarrill y Herera, brother of the general, con- 

 curred kindly in all that could favour my new projects. On 

 the 6th of March, the vessel I had freighted was ready to 

 receive us. The road to Batabano led us once more by 

 ( aiines to the plantation of Rio Blanco, the property of 

 Count Jaruco y Mopox. 



The road from Bio Blanco to Batabano runs across an 

 uncultivated country, half covered with forests ; in the open 

 spots, the indigo plant and the cotton-tree grow wild. As 

 the capsule of the Gossypium opens at the season when the 

 northern storms are most frequent, the down that envelops 

 the seed is swept from one side to the other; and tne 

 gathering of the cotton, which is of a very fine quality, 

 suffers greatly. Several of our friends, among whom was 

 r de Mendoza, captain of the port of Valparaiso, and 

 brother to the celebrated astronomer who resided so long in 

 London, accompanied us to Potrero de Mopox. In herbo- 

 rizing further southward, we found a new palm-tree with 

 fen-leaves, (Coryphamaritima), having a free thread between 

 the interstices of the folioles. This Corypha covers a part- 

 of the southern coast, and takes place of the majestic palma 



* The gales of Saint Martha blow with great violence at that 

 below latitude 12*. 



TOL. Ill * 



