286 Foreign Notices : — West Indies. 



of them, which had the appearance of having been burnt, had been destroyed 

 by the heat of the sun or by fire. The circle of their ideas seems to be con- 

 fined to coffee and sugar. 



The hills near the city are rocky, and almost entirely covered with Opuntia 

 horrida. My efforts in search of Cacti were not rewarded, and, indeed, I 

 found, to my great sorrow, that this part of the island was more meagre in 

 new and rare plants than the northern portion already explored. Tuberous 

 and bulbous plants were nowhere to be found. My zeal was redoubled, but 

 in vain ; and the burning heat of the sun was considered so injurious to health, 

 that I was obliged to shut myself up in my abode from 11 o'clock in the 

 morning till 4 in the afternoon, and my excursions, therefore, from Trinidad, 

 could only extend to the environs of the city. 



The only thing I found new here was dearly bought. The Guao is a tree 

 from 4 ft. to 8 ft. in height ; with beautiful dark green leaves, having a brownish 

 tinge round the margin. The blossoms are small, of a bluish brown, and hang 

 like loose bunches of grapes at the points of the shoots, or even on the stem 

 itself, as it has seldom branches. This tree is frequently found near small 

 rivers, particularly in barren and stony places, and in the savannas. Some, 8 ft. 

 in height, may be seen in the immediate vicinity of Trinidad, and no one ventures 

 to cut them down, as their bad properties are so well known. In the savanna 

 near the city, I saw, on the 12th of March, a specimen of this tree 4 ft. in 

 height in full flower. Quite delighted with the sight, I cut off the top, and also 

 some shoots from another specimen, and laid them all with the other plants 

 which my negro carried. A dark brownish green sap flowed from the wounds 

 of the shoots and stained my hands. On returning home I arranged the col- 

 lected blossoms, and found I could not remove the stains on my hands by 

 means of soap and a brush, and when I made the natives understand my griev- 

 ance, they told me I might be glad I had come off with my life, because, 

 although some were only injured by touching the sap, others, again, by merely 

 coming in contact with the tree, or by passing near it, have experienced fatal 

 effects. About noon on the day I touched the sap I experienced a painful 

 burning on my face and arms, and particularly about my eyes, and it became 

 greater towards evening. My sleep was tolerably placid, but what was my 

 horror on awakening to see my face most dreadfully swollen, my eyes project- 

 ing far out of their sockets, and I could only see a faint glimmer of light with 

 the left ! A tormenting itching and burning came all over my body, and I 

 found it was quite time to send for medical aid. Bleeding, washing with 

 water from a decoction of the blossoms of the ikfalva, a bath, and 12 leeches 

 on my eyes, were the expedients the doctor resorted to ; the swelling abated 

 towards evening, and the following day I was able to see. The swelling was 

 quite gone in the course of five days, and it was followed by a breaking out of 

 a red colour all over the body, resembling that in the scarlet fever. 1 then 

 had a bath in which there was put a proportion of brandy, and, as there are 

 no wells in the town, the water was obliged to be fetched from a brook, about a 

 mile off. When the redness and burning disappeared I might have been taken 

 for a native, as I could hardly be distinguished from a mulatto. Experience 

 is, indeed, of much value, but this one was outweighed by extreme pain, several 

 davs of idleness, and great loss of money. The medical man who attended me 

 charged eight dollars for eight visits ; bleeding, half a dollar; medicine, five; 

 and the twelve leeches, seven dollars four reals (about eleven Prussian rix- 

 dollars.) The blossoms and twigs of the Guao, which I sent among the other 

 dried plants without a botanical name, are certainly of some value, and I re- 

 commend great prudence in examination. * I was told that this plant is used 

 ofhcinally in the cholera and yellow fever, but in this respect I did not wish to 

 renew my acquaintance with it. 



My stay in Trinidad was in every respect unpleasant, and as I could not 



* I ascertained, afterwards, that this tree is the Comocladia z'licifdlia of 

 Swartz. 



