CHOICE OF TEEES. 485 



especially in the shallow intervening valleys, whether 

 from the closeness of the woods preventing the escape 

 of vapours, or the luxuriance of the rank vegetation, 

 the air feels at all times surcharged with moisture, 

 even during the dry seasons. In the night this 

 moisture is concentrated very copiously, so that in the 

 concavities of large leaves, sometimes as much as a 

 wine-glass full of clear water may be seen collected, 

 especially on such leaves as those of the Heliconia, or 

 wild plantain, and of the great esculent Arums, 

 called Cocoes, of the Negroes' grounds. I have many 

 a time been refreshed by drinking from these leaves. 

 The ferns and other herbaceous plants that fringe the 

 narrow paths, and the Lycopodiums and mosses that 

 form thick cushions around the roots of the trees, are 

 always found heavy with dew, and as it were saturated, 

 when one visits this locality in the early morning. 



With respect to the choice of trees exercised by 

 OrchidecB, it certainly seems to exist, but is not, I 

 think, very exclusive. In the lowlands, the lovely 

 BrougJitonia sanguinea is found in very different situ- 

 ations ; on the Palmetto thatch (a small species of 

 Thrinax, I believe), that forms an extensive grove, 

 at Crabpond Morass, it grows abundantly, at the 

 height of four feet from the ground. At Alligator 

 Pond I took it from a Hog-plum (^Spondias graveo- 

 lens), and around Bluefields it is common on the 

 Calabash, both trees of moderate dimensions. But 

 on the road to Savannah le Mar, bunches of its bril- 

 liant blossom are seen depending from the lofty forks 

 and limbs of the towering Cotton-trees (^Eriodendron), 

 at an elevation of eighty or a hundred feet. 



Y 3 



