PLATE XIII 



GUAHAM. 



UPPER SAVANA DISTRICT. 



March. 



The woody hills rising near the sea are followed, as we ascend, by rather extensive 

 meadows, here and there crossed by little valleys full of trees and shrubs. Further 

 in the interior these grassy plains gradually merge into steep hills, piled together, 

 the herbage of which disappears soon after the commencement of the dry season, 

 to lay bare the naked soil. The above-mentioned Casuarina is here princi- 

 pally at home, its isolated stems occupying the heights in almost regular distances. 

 It would be difficult to find a country more strikingly defined by characteristic 

 plants than the present is by the combination of this Casuarina with the narrow- 

 leaved Pandanus and the Cycas revoluta. The first-named has a peculiar 

 elegance of growth, rendering it evident that the plant has flourished on the open 

 heights of the island, and under the constant influence of the trade wind. Its 



light, airy, fluttering habit presents an agreeable sight (15 -j. The present 



view exhibits one of the places where the character of the just-mentioned grassy 

 plains merges into the naked hills. The foreground is covered with tall Cype- 

 racew, which, though dried up, still preserve their shape. Their dry leaves 

 are often so sharp that an accidental contact with them may impart a serious 

 wound. As the grass is the first to suffer from the aridity, the naked parts here 

 and there bear a Mertensia (13 o), and especially a little shrubby myrtle (14 | 15 o) 

 of elegant aspect, and growing even at the distant heights near the isolated 

 Casuarina trees. The wood in the centre principally consists of a collection of 

 trees also found in the lower forest region. Only the shrubby Scaivola (2 | 3 f ) 

 and the Casuarina itself are found lower down in the immediate vicinity of the 



