By Mr. Theodore Hartweg. 



117 



gathering. The soap plant, Agave saponaria, was found in the 

 same locality, throwing up its flower-stem like a tuberose to which 

 in fact it bears much resemblance. Its thick fleshy root crushed is 

 a good substitute for soap, and is abundantly used by those who 

 are too poor to buy that article. This, as well as the Cebadilla, 

 appears to be common in the temperate parts of Mexico, having 

 been found in several places, even as far south as Guatemala. 



The 27th of December found me on the road to Jalapa, where I 

 arrived on the following day. Being anxious to come to my jour- 

 ney's end, I took the diligence for Mexico ; and thence, after de- 

 livering various letters of introduction and procuring new ones, I 

 again proceeded to Guanajuato, the place of my destinati n. Upon 

 my arrival I presented my letters of introduction to Mr. Stanley, 

 Mr. Shoolbred, and Mr. George O'Gorman. The latter gen- 

 tleman being about to proceed to Silao, a place distant seven 

 leagues, I accepted an invitation to spend a week with him, but it 

 being then the middle of the dry season, my exertions did not prove 

 very successful ; and upon my return, the necessary arrangements 

 having been completed, I left for the more elevated parts of that 

 mountainous district, which I hoped to find more likely to fulfil 

 the object of my mission. 



My first excursion was to the Gicante, the highest point of the 

 range of mountains of Guanajuato, where I was rewarded with Gar- 

 rya obovata, then in flower, forming a shrub six feet high ; I after- 

 wards found it more commonly on the Bufa, a bluff rock a league 

 from Guanajuato, but all my efforts to procure seeds were only 

 rewarded with a single grain, which I now find did not germinate. 

 Arctostaphylos pungens has also been found in these stations, both 

 in flower and fruit. Berberis fascicularis forming a shrub 8 to 10 

 feet high, was covered with flowers, as well as Ribes campanulatum. 

 !n another excursion I found, both in flower and fruit, a second 

 species of Garrya (G. laurifolia,) forming an evergreen shrub 12 

 to 15 fe et high, with the Madrono, or Arbutus densiflora, forming a 



