234 
neither horses nor mules can go on it, and the ascent requires 
hand over hand climbing, taking advantage of trees and shrubs 
on the way, and putting one’s feet where you know where they 
are at every step. Among characteristic plants of this formation 
are the mountain palm (Gaussia), and a beautiful thatch-palm 
(Thrinax); a maguey (A gave) is very abundant, not in bloom at 
the time of our visit, but beginning to send up its flower-stalks; 
a curious green-barked tree, Ceibon (Bombax emarginatum), the 
trunk tapering upward, the fibrous inner bark used for packing 
Fic. 34. The bushy cactus, Harrisia ertophora, Bay uf Mariel. 
tobacco into bales, is dotted all over the forest; long vines of 
the genus Solandra droop from the cliffs, their large greenish- 
white flowers very conspicuous; showy white-flowered shrubs of 
Portlandia and red-flowered Gesnerias ornament the cliffs and in 
moist places at the foot many species of fine ferns and mosses are 
found; a shining green-leaved aroid (Anthurium), clings to the 
cliffs in almost impossible situations; floristically and orographi- 
cally this is one of the most attractive places in the West Indies. 
