THE LEAP OF LIFE. 61 



crenata; a tall, rather handsome plant, with thick 

 succulent leaves notched in a fashion which heralds 

 term engrailed, leaving rounded segments. It is 

 now in blossom, throwing up a spike of greenish 

 flowers to the height of three feet. It is considered 

 a great curiosity by the Creoles, on account of its 

 tenacity of the living principle, whence they call it 

 the Leaf of Life, or the Life Plant. A single leaf is 

 sometimes broken off, and suspended by a thread 

 from the top of a window ; when a number of delicate 

 white rootlets are presently thrown out from the base, 

 and the leaf forms a young plant. Some prefer to 

 throw the leaf into a drawer or box, and to open it 

 in a week or two, when the same results are found to 

 have taken place. I have found that even half a leaf, 

 cut across, will root ; and it is impossible to dry the 

 plant in an herbarium, without first killing it with 

 a hot iron, or by boiling water. This property, in a 

 greater or less degree, is common to many members 

 of the Order Crassulacece, to which the Verea belongs. 

 Perhaps it is not indigenous, but is a truant from 

 some garden. 



BLUEFIELDS MOUNTAIN. 



Many days had not elapsed, after my arrival at 

 Bluefields, before I determined to explore the sum- 

 mit of the lofty mountain that rises behind it, and 

 bears the same name. A ride of four or five miles 

 brought me to the brow of the mountain, the steep- 

 ness of the ascent being mitigated by the practice 

 (common on the precipitous mountains of the south 



