374 



humboldt's ctjba. 



coral islands 1 is the beautiful silver-leaved tourne- 

 fortia gnaphalioides of Jacquin, which I first found 

 there. It is not a solitary plant, and forms a tree 

 four or five feet in height, its flowers having an 

 agreeable odor. It also adorns Cay Flamenco, Cay 

 de Piedras, and perhaps the greater part of the low 

 islands of the Jardinillos. 



While we were engaged in botanizing our sailors 

 sought for sea crabs, and irritated with ill success, 

 they soothed their anger by climbing the mangrove 

 trees, and committing terrible havoc among the 

 young alcatraces, which were snugly ensconced in 

 pairs in the nests. Throughout Spanish America, 

 this name is applied to the blackish, swan-sized peli- 

 can of Buff on. The alcatraz, with that indolence 

 and stupid confidence which characterizes the larger 

 sea birds, forms its nest by twining together a few 



1 We gathered : Cenchrus myosuroides, Euphorbia buxifolia, Batis 

 maritima, Iresine obtusifolia, Tournefortia gnaphalioides, Diomedea 

 glabrata, Cakile cubensis, Dolichos miniatus, Parthenium hystero- 

 phorus, etc. This latter plant, which we found in the valley of 

 Caraccas, and on the temperate plains of Mexico, between elevations 

 of three thousand and six thousand feet, grows in all the fields of 

 Cuba. The inhabitants use it for aromatic baths, and to destroy 

 fleas, which so abound within the tropics. In Cumana many species 

 of Casia are used, for their odor, against these troublesome 

 insects. — H. 



