on Birds of Paradise in the West Indies.



37



240, but if one takes into consideration all the inequalities of the

ground, there can be no room for doubt that the area of the

island has been greatly under-estimated, and a proper survey will

probably show it to be nearly twice that figure.


The island is clothed with a dense vegetation, the ground

being covered with verdure almost to the sea’s edge. The salt-

sprayed rocks, notably on the eastward or windward side, are over¬

grown with thickets of a fleshy-leaved, upstanding cactus ( Gereus sp.?)

among which are dotted here and there the more curious spherical

Turk’s head ( Melocactus communis). The rest of the island is more

or less evenly wooded, an unusual feature for a tropical country (where

gregarious trees are the exception rather than the rule), being the

extensive groves of fan palm ( Thrinax radiata). A striking charac¬

teristic of the undergrowth is the immense quantity of “ big-leaves”—

an aroid plant, bearing as its local name suggests, gigantic lanceolate¬

shaped leaves. It is also an epiphyte, and many of the trees are

burdened with ponderous clumps of this great plant, and it will even

find a foothold on to the small columnar trunks of the Thrinax.

Breaking off one of the leaves at random, I found it measured fully

7ft. in length.


In the sheltered and richer valleys, the vegetation assumes

a more imposing character, and here the trees in their struggle to

reach the light, attain the great heights so often found in a true

tropical forest. Among these trees I noticed the hog plum ( Spondias

lutea), pimenta, fiddle wood, plummer cherry, cannon wood, and,

here and there, the majestic cabbage palm.


Water is unfortunately rather scarce, and can only be relied

upon normally at one point, where a spring of water (apparently

full of organic matter and unfit for human use) percolates through

the soil of one of the little ravines. As it does not appear to be

extensively used by either the Birds of Paradise or any of the native

species, one can only assume that the heavy dews are sufficient to

satisfy all their wants in this respect.


We left the main island of Tobago about ten in the morning,

one boat containing our luggage and provisions, and the other our¬

selves and friends. Owing to the strong tide rip, it took us over an

hour to pull across, and another to carry our goods and chattels up



