16 



pool we pass to the grateful shade of the ferneries with the quick- 

 stream dancing over the stones, and then on to the nutmeg tree, itg^ 

 yellow fruit splitting and displaying the "mace," a network of scarlet 

 covering and half concealing the brown nut ; the spicy clove and 

 cinnamon trees ; the climbing vanilla and black pepper ; the coffee,^ 

 cocoa, and kola trees ; the peculiar flowers of the Couroupita and Na- 

 poleona. 



There is a small hotel in the grounds of the garden, open during the^ 

 winter months, and as the importance of the garden has increased, a 

 post and telegraph office, and constabulary station have been lately 

 erected. The railway station at Annotto bay is only nine or ten miles 

 distant. 



Elevation 580 feet; annual mean temperature 76.2^ F. ; average 

 annual rainfall 110 inches. 



BATH GARDEN. 



The Bath garden, forty- four miles east of Kingston, is situated in 

 one of the most tropical districts in the island. In other places, e. g , 

 in Hanover, it could easily be imagined that the road led through some 

 English park, until we perhaps notice the sensitive plant {Mimosa pu- 

 dica) trailing amongst the grass, or come upon a gigantic ceiba tree 

 with buttressed trunk and its branches stretching far and wide loaded 

 with a whole garden of exotic epiphytes. But in the Bath district the 

 luxuriance of the vegetation arrests the attention on all sides. The 

 street of the village has an avenue of the Otaheite apple {Eugenia ma- 

 laccensis), which carpets the road with its purplish-red stamens. Spa- 

 thodea campanulata, a large tree with reddish-orange flowers, from tro- 

 pical Africa, has become quite naturalized. The upas tree and the 

 durian both grow in the garden, as well as the talipot or umbrella 

 palm of Ceylon {Corypha umbraculiferd), which has fan-shaped leaves- 

 twelve feet in diameter. 



The sea is only six miles off, where there is a large sheltered bay of 

 shallow water, protected by a bold headland and small bays, where 

 search may be made for marine algse. 



About a mile and a half from the village, by a road along the side 

 of the gorge, we come to the famous bath dedicated to St. Thomas the 

 Apostle. It is a hot spring of mineral water, efficacious in rheumatic 

 and gouty complaints. This gorge is an unfailing delight for its pic- 

 turesque beauty, and the botanist finds something new at every step. 

 There is a bridle path across the mountains to Port Antonio, sixteen 

 miles distant by the Cuna-cuna pass. This pass is an easy ride of six 

 and one-half miles from Bath through virgin forest. 



The forest commences close at the north side of the village. Most 

 of it at one time or another has probably been cut for negro provision 

 fiel Is, but at a distance only of two or three miles undisturbed forest 

 can easily be found, where the palm, Calyptrogyne Sivartzii, flourishes,, 

 its stems clothed with that rare tropical American fern Anetium citri- 

 folium. The John Crow, or Blake mountains, are unknown land, and- 



