68 BLUEFIELDS. 



rude angles and gaping crevices of the latter, like a 

 thick and soft green carpet thrown loosely over them. 

 The Broadleat (Terminalia), a great timber tree, with 

 leaves that remind one of those of our horse-chestnut 

 in form, but immensely larger, and bearing edible nuts, 

 like almonds, is a common tree in this region ; and 

 the edges of the woods are occupied by CUdemia and 

 other forms of Melastomaceous shrubs, whose leaves, 

 divided by a few longitudinal ribs, and crossed by 

 transverse ones at right angles, have so very singular 

 an appearance to an European observer. Among 

 them stands conspicuous for beauty Blakea frinervia, 

 whose expanded crimson flower has received the 

 name of the Jamaica Rose : a tall shrub or small 

 tree, with smooth but not glossy leaves of a lively 

 green, supported by three nerve-ribs. 



It was here that I first became acquainted with 

 those elegant plants, perhaps more than almost any 

 others peculiarly characteristic of tropical vegetation, 

 the Tree-ferns. Many specimens were growing on 

 this wooded hill, but all, I believe, of one species, 

 AlsopMla aculeata. I gazed upwards with peculiar 

 delight at the minutely fretted fronds that formed a 

 wide umbrella of open work between me and the 

 sky. In one respect only was I disappointed ; from 

 descriptions and figures in books, I had expected to 

 see the Tree-fern far loftier and more Palm-like than 

 I found it. I do not think any specimen that I saw 

 exceeded fifteen feet from the ground to the bases 

 of the fronds ; but then the expansion much exceeded 

 my pre-conceptions. I should conjecture that some 

 of these trees covered with their arching shade a 



