194 BLUEFIELDS. 



the minute seeds^ enveloped in mucilage, were thus 

 left on the tree, which the rain presently washed 

 down into the broad concavity of the forks, where 

 among moss and rotten leaves it soon germinated and 

 grew. The roots gradually crept down the trunk of 

 the supporting tree, closely clinging to its bark, and 

 by their interlacement at length formed a living case, 

 enveloping it on every side, and penetrating the earth 

 around its base. The growth of these, and also of 

 the enclosed tree, daily induced a tighter and tighter 

 pressure, which at length arrived at such a degree 

 as to stop the circulation of the sap between the 

 bark and wood. Death of course was the result, 

 and speedy decay reduced the supporting tree to a 

 heap of mouldering dust ; while the parasite, now 

 able to maintain its own position by its hollow cone 

 of roots, increased in size and strength, and over- 

 topped its fellows of the forest ; — a tree standing 

 upon stilts. 



THE ANT-LION. 



July \Qtli. — One of the old buildings, now fast 

 going to decay on Bluefields estate, was, in the 

 time of sugar cultivation, the mill-house. The 

 wheel was turned by water power, a stream from the 

 upper part of the rivulet having been led through a 

 long aqueduct into the mill, and passing off through 

 a deep and narrow trench to the lower course of the 

 river. Through this winding trench, cut to a depth 

 of fifteen or twenty feet, but not more than a yard 

 wide, and now so entirely choked up and overgrown 



