Foreign Notices : • — West Indies. 287 



expect to be benefited by a longer visit, I set out by the steam-boat to Bata- 

 bano, thence to St. Felipe on horseback, and to Havanna by the railroad. 

 The steam-boat was the most miserable I was ever in. The food wretched, 

 and hardly fit to be eaten on account of the rancid olive oil ; and sleep at 

 night, our only enjoyment, was disturbed by mice and rats, and insects 

 an inch and a half long, of the beetle kind, which had a disagreeable smell, 

 and bit us dreadfully. On the 23d of March, about three o'clock in the 

 afternoon, we arrived in Havanna, but were obliged to wait till six for our 

 luggage, as the Spaniards did not choose to exert themselves for the pas- 

 sengers, expecting to derive more profit from the next train. 



My next excursion from Havanna was to Chimborazo, on the 26th of 

 March, not, indeed, the lofty mountain of that name in the New World, 

 but a plantation belonging to M. Vignier, the partner of our consul 

 M. Sthamer. It is situated in a beautiful country, and from the adjoining 

 hills you can see the sea beyond the southern coast of the island. The 

 avenues in the plantation, and those leading to the dwelling-house, consist of 

 oreodoxas, between which are oleanders in flower, Cupressus sempervirens, 

 Cy" cas revoluta, Amaryllis rutila in flower, and a very peculiar full-grown 

 cereus ; an assemblage, which, to us at least, is extremely rare. The plant- 

 ation, I was told, consisted of about 80,000 coffee trees ; on an average each 

 tree bears about 2 lb. of coffee, and some of them produce 6 lb. Oranges 

 and bananas are cultivated for the family, and tobacco and pine-apples prin- 

 cipally as articles of sale. I did not find anything new in the neighbourhood, 

 but I saw with delight an oncidium in flower, which is neither O. alrissimum 

 nor O. luridum, and I think 1 have seen it figured in some orchidaceous 

 work, and, if I am not mistaken, it was called Cavendishra. After a stay of 

 six days, I returned on horseback to Milena, and from there to Havanna by 

 the railroad ; the latter is about nine French leagues from Chimborazo. 



A letter of recommendation to M. Souchay and his lady, a native of 

 Liibeck, brought me to the plantation of Cafetal Angerona, district of Cata- 

 bajus, in the interior of the island. We arrived here on the 2d of April, 

 after a very tiresome and tedious journey, on account of our ignorance of the 

 roads that lead to the plantation, through Artemisa, a small district about a 

 league from the end of our journey, where we were obliged to sleep the pre- 

 vious night. Angerona is the largest plantation in Cuba. It is three quarters 

 of a league long, and is divided by an avenue of palms, from the centre of 

 which an avenue with four rows of palms leads to the dwelling-house. This 

 avenue measures 1,960 ft., and each row of palms consists of exactly 100 of 

 the most beautiful of these plants, 30 ft. high, planted fifteen years ago by 

 the uncle of the present proprietor. The dwelling, which has been lately 

 erected, is situated on a small elevation, and resembles a palace. Not far distant 

 are the abodes of the 400 negroes which belong to the plantation, houses for 

 the manager, the overseer, the magazine, the smithy, the wheelwright's pre- 

 mises, two prisons, stables, and many other buildings ; all of which form a 

 considerable village, and, being protected by a fortification, make a considerable 

 impression upon a stranger. It is also provided with an hospital and a 

 laboratory, under the management of a German, Dr. Imm. I found vegetation 

 here in a state of winter sleep, on account of the extraordinary drought ; the 

 ground had cracks in it a foot wide, the meadows were as yellow as our ripe 

 cornfields, and most of the trees were stripped of their leaves. 



On the 19th of April I went with the family of M. Souchay to Tabureta, 

 their country seat, among the Cusco hills. It is about six miles from Ange- 

 rona, and is situated on the river St, Juan, in a valley between two high hills. 

 The country is beautiful ; and, after four days' incessant rain, Nature seemed 

 to recover herself, and several trees and shrubs began to show their blossom- 

 buds. I find more plants for the herbarium ; and I hope soon to be able to 

 send some home alive, as, until now, bulbs and tubers were concealed in the 

 ground. Amaryllis rutila, bulbs of which I have already sent home, is seen 

 all over this neighbourhood most splendidly in flower. I have eaten the 



