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siasm. Under the torrid zone I found sites^ 

 where nature is more majestic, and richer in the 

 display of organic forms ; but after having tra- 

 versed the banks of the Oroonoko, the Cordille- 

 ras of Peru, and the most beautiful vallies of 

 Mexico, I own, that I have never beheld a pros- 

 pect more varied, more attractive, more harmo- 

 nious in the distribution of the masses of verdure 

 and of rocks. 



The seacoastis lined with date and cocoa trees. 

 Groups of musa, as the country rises, form a 

 pleasing contrast with the dragon-tree, the trunks 

 of which have been justly compared to the tor- 

 tuous form of the serpent. The declivities are 

 covered with vines, which throw their branches 

 over towering poles. Orange trees loaded with 

 flowers, myrtles, and cypress trees, entwine the 

 chapels reared to devotion on the isolated hills. 

 The divisions of property are marked by hedges 

 formed of the agave and the cactus. An innu- 

 merable quantity of eryptogamous plants, among 

 which ferns are the most predominant, cover 

 the walls, moistened by small springs of limpid 

 water. In winter, when the volcano is buried 

 under ice and snow, this district enjoys perpetu- 

 al spring. In summer, as the day declines, the 

 breezes from the sea come loaded with delicious 

 coolness. The population of this coast is very 

 considerable ; and it appears to be still greater 

 than it is, because the houses and gardens are 



