A Sojourn in Cuba 



sprinkling of large papilionaceous blossoms 

 among the short green grass. The long com- 

 posites that bordered this little lawn were en- 

 twined and almost smothered with vines which 

 bore similar corollas in tropic abundance. 



I at once decided that these sprinkled flow- 

 ers had been blown off the encompassing 

 tangles and had been kept fresh by dew and by- 

 spray from the sea. But, on stooping to pick 

 one of them up, I was surprised to find that it 

 was attached to Mother Earth by a short, pros- 

 trate, slender hair of a vine stem, bearing, be- 

 sides the one large blossom, a pair or two of 

 linear leaves. The flower weighed more than 

 stem, root, and leaves combined. Thus, in a 

 land of creeping and twining giants, we find 

 also this charming, diminutive simplicity — 

 the vine reduced to its lowest terms. 



The longest vine, prostrate and untwined like 

 its little neighbor, covers patches of several hun- 

 dred square yards with its countless branches 

 and close growth of upright, trifoliate, smooth 

 green leaves. The flowers are as plain and un- 

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