A "Thousand- Mile Walk 



showy in size and color as those of the sweet 

 peas of gardens. The seeds are large and satiny. 

 The whole plant is noble in its motions and 

 features, covering the ground with a depth of 

 unconfused leafage which I have never seen 

 equaled by any other plant. The extent of leaf- 

 surface is greater, I think, than that of a large 

 Kentucky oak. It grows, as far as my obser- 

 vation has reached, only upon shores, in a soil 

 composed of broken shells and corals, and ex- 

 tends exactly to the water-line of the highest- 

 reaching waves. The same plant is abundant 

 in Florida. 



The cacti form an important part of the plant 

 population of my ramble ground. They are 

 various as the vines, consisting now of a dimin- 

 utive joint or two hid in the weeds, now rising 

 into bushy trees, wide-topped, with trunks a 

 foot in diameter, and with glossy, dark-green 

 joints that reflect light like the silex-varnished 

 palms. They are planted for fences, together 

 with the Spanish bayonet and agave. 



In one of my first walks I was laboriously 

 [ i6o ] 



