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nous combination of Rhizophora, mud and water. The view of 
Paredon Grande Light and a little rock out in the sea was inspir- 
ing, and as I had not seen such a rock island in Cuba I was’ 
anxious to examine it, thinking it might harbor some specimens of 
cacti. The boatman, however, pronounced it too dangerous to 
attempt in our small boat, saying it was fully twelve miles out in 
the open sea and the weather was so unreliable; in fact, he did 
not wish to continue westward along the Cocos coast. However, 
after passing a long stretch of the mangrove formation, we met 
with a hard, lime rock shore and made a landing in time to do an 
hour’s collecting before sundown. The night spent here will long 
be remembered, for although we were anchored probably 1,000 
feet from shore and a mild breeze was blowing in from the sea, it 
was a continuous battle with mosquitoes of large size which 
continued to annoy to us until daybreak. 
Next morning I explored the dense thicket between the coast 
and an extensive lagoon, about three fourths of a mile inland. 
The vegetation was rather vigorous, considering the sparseness 
of the soil and hardness of the rocky surface. A large number 
of species not seen before were collected. Probably the most con- 
spicuous feature of the place was the numerous spreading trees 
ofa speciesof Plumeria. An open grassy place, the remnants of a 
shack, and several fresh-water holes plainly indicated that the place 
may have been occupied, from time to time, probably by turtle 
fishermen, for it is said that there are no permanent inhabitants 
on the entire cay. The day being an unusually fine one, and 
conditions being favorable, we started for the rock already men- 
tioned, which I afterwards learned was called Cayo Pelon. 
Reaching it in the middle of the afternoon, it was found to be a 
solid, soilless lime rock, about 1,000 feet long, about 60 feet 
across its widest point and about the same height. During a 
high sea it is washed over so that little vegetation can exist 
there; but twelve species were seen upon it, four of them woody, 
all being common seaside plants. No cacti were found. Leaving 
here as soon as possible, for our boatman was getting uneasy at 
what he said were signs of bad weather, we headed eastward 
towards Paredon Grande Lighthouse, which we reached shortly 
