128 THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



shafre trees that line its walks. The trunk, which is 

 somewhat pear-shaped near the ground, runs up 

 sometimes 125 feet perfectly straight, with a gradual 

 taper before reaching the root of the leaf, which 

 encircles the trunk for four or six feet further, and 

 is of a bright green, and then spreads off* with great 

 regularity, giving the peculiar umbrella like appear- 

 ance to the top of the tree. The fruit of this palm 

 is of no account, but adds much to the appearance 

 of the tree, as it hangs in large clusters like grapes, 

 at the root of the leaf, and from four to six feet be- 

 low the point where it spreads from the trunk. 

 Nothing can exceed the beauty of this tree, with its 

 smooth, straight trunk to the cluster of fruit which 

 encircles it like a collar, and above it of a bright 

 green for a few more feet, and then the spreading 

 top of beautiful symmetry, which crowns the whole. 

 Of the great variety of trees in this garden, I 

 had not time to examine many, nor should 1 have 

 known what they were, in some instances. I could 

 only designate the orange, lemon, date, mango, 

 lime, and a few others. The caoutchouc I also dis- 

 covered, from the gum which I found issuing from a 

 fracture. Streams of water cross the garden in many 

 directions, through artificial channels, feeding small 

 ponds, which in some places were covered with beau- 

 tiful lilies, and pools which were covered with iron- * 

 grated buildings for aquatic animals, although but 

 one was inhabited, and that by a lonesome-looking 

 alligator. In appropriate enclosures I observed a 

 panther, two leopards, a wolf and the American 



