138 BLUEFIELDS RIDGE. 



height of about thirty inches, sprang from a mass of 

 pseudo-bulbs that had attached themselves to the 

 surface of a huge stone. I was much struck with 

 the presence of so rich and elegant a flower in so 

 gloomy, obscure, and tangled a place, uncared for 

 and unknown. For years and years it may have 

 successively displayed its gorgeous beauty, without 

 the eye of man having ever rested on it ; and for ages 

 more it might have continued to blush unseen, but 

 for the curiosity of a prying naturalist. 



This lonely road was one of my most favourite 

 resorts, and will ever be associated with my most de- 

 lightful recollections of Jamaica. I am sure I cannot, 

 by any attempt to describe the scene, or by any enu- 

 meration of its more prominent constituents, give any 

 adequate notion of the peculiar charm that belonged 

 to it. The gradual ascent higher and higher up the 

 mountain, with the commanding view thus obtained, 

 widening and spreading beneath, imparted an exhi- 

 laration to the spirits that probably had something 

 to do with it. Then the leaving behind, and far below, 

 the habitations of man, to plunge into the deep and 

 wild solitudes of Nature ; and the thought that pro- 



Hshed figures of this species, the similarity is so close as to warrant 

 their identification. Yet Phajus TankervilUcE is a Chinese plant, and 

 the genus has never before been recognised in the New World. The 

 suggestion occurs that it may have been introduced, and have been 

 increased by cultivation, and that the seeds may have been scattered 

 by the winds, or carried by birds over the island. The lone humid 

 forest at the summit of Bluefields Peak, does not certainly seem a 

 very likely locality in which to find a large and beautiful flower 

 escaped from a garden. I may add that j ust a year afterwards I met 

 with it again in blossom in the neighbouring woods. 



