ORCHIDE.E. 31 



cords, thrown from one to another, or depending 

 from the branches towards the ground. The great 

 Keratto, or American aloe, as it is often called {Agave 

 Jcerato), threw up its broad, fleshy, spinous leaves, 

 and loftj flower-stalks from the crevices, in profusion ; 

 and numerous Cacti, both erect and trailing, helped 

 to give a very peculiar character to the vegetation. 

 I here saw epiphyte OrchidecB for the first time 

 growing in native wildness. Some large bunches of 

 crimson blossom caught my eye, far up above my 

 head ; and giving my horse to my negro guide, I 

 climbed the rock to examine the plant. It was, as 

 I had suspected, the elegant Broughtoriia sanguinea, 

 growing in profuse luxuriance in tufts, depending 

 from the trunks of some Hog-plum trees {Spondias 

 graveolens). On another tree, a species of Bignonia, 

 I found masses of Brasavola nodosa, with long leaves 

 resembling porcupine quills in form, and hanging 

 racemes of elegant white flowers. I carefully de- 

 tached all the specimens, greatly to the mystification 

 of my sable companion ; who, as I afterwards found, 

 told his master how the " strange buckra had taken 

 the trouble to get parcel of hush .'" 



The mansion of my kind friend afforded me one 

 of the most magnificent prospects that I had ever 

 beheld. From the wide balcony that surrounds the 

 house, the eye roams in one direction over man}^ 

 miles of savannah, or open pasture country, with all 

 the varieties of surface produced by rounded hills, 

 valleys, and sheeted slopes, beautifully spotted with 

 large clumps of bushes, imparting somewhat of the 

 character of our English downs. In another direction 



