DEPARTURE FROM BLUEFIELDS. 489 



or which, in the form of rain or dew, trickles down 

 among their matted masses from above. 



At the same time there is an unaccountable pre- 

 ference of certain localities to others. Thus of the 

 vicinity of Bluefields in Westmoreland, and of Con- 

 tent in St. Elizabeth's, including both lowland and 

 mountain, the former district is rich in species and 

 individuals; while the latter, embosomed in tall humid 

 woods (the pristine forest extending from the level 

 of the sea to the summit of the first range of the 

 Luana Mountains), possesses, as far as I have seen, 

 scarcely a single specime^i of any sjjecies. Again, the 

 low level land around Savanna le Mar seems equally 

 destitute of these parasites ; but this is less to be 

 wondered at, since so large a portion of the district is 

 overrun with logwood (as is indeed a large part of the 

 once-cleared land in St. Elizabeth's), a tree on which 

 I do not remember to have found an Orchideous 

 plant, (though Tillandsice are common enough on it), 

 with the exception of Oncidium Carthaginense, which 

 occasionally grows on the hedges that are made of 

 this thorn-like tree. 



DEPARTURE AND RETURN. 



At length the day arrived for my departure from 

 Bluefields. On the 19th of June, 1846, I embarked 

 on board a little drogger, or coasting sloop, for King- 

 ston, and cast a farewell glance, not without regretful 

 yearnings, on the sunny slopes, and wooded glades, 

 and mountain-peaks, where I had spent so many 

 pleasant months. Seven dreary days were swallowed 



