VIEW FROM INVERART. 149 



growing in great luxuriance. Handsome Begonia 

 are numerous, some of which are semi-parasitical, 

 clinging to the trunks of the larger trees, and climbing 

 with a profusion of stems and foliage to the height of 

 twenty feet or more. This is not the usual habit of 

 BegonicB. Within the edge of the woods, which is 

 always much more dense and bushy than the interior, 

 a terrestrial Orchid, which I have no means of 

 identifying, with large irregular tubers, and ample 

 plaited leaves much like those of Bletia, grows to the 

 height of three feet. The appearance of the plant is 

 striking, but the blossom, which appears in June, 

 has little beauty. 



A tangled path through the woods of what was 

 formerly a coffee property named Bognie, now de- 

 serted and allowed to fall into neglect and ruin, leads 

 to a little retired plantation called Inverary, em- 

 bosomed in the lofty primitive forest. Its elevation 

 is but little inferior to that of Bluefields Peak, and 

 the prospect from it, if not quite so extensive, is 

 more rich and varied. In one direction it takes in 

 Montego Bay on the north side of the island ; in 

 another it looks over the capes of Negril and the 

 expanse of blue sea far beyond ; to the eastward 

 it extends to the parish of Vere, over four ranges of 

 mountains. 



A very noble species of wild Pine {^chmea) was 

 in blossom at the time I visited the place, about the 

 end of January ; a magnificent spike of densely set 

 flowers, crimson and purple, shooting out from the 

 tuft of broad sheathing leaves, parasitically growing 



H 3 



