196 



spread to diminish the salubrity of the air of Cu- 

 mana* The soil of the plain is in part destitute 

 of vegetation, in part covered with tufts of sesu- 

 vium portulacastrum, gomphrena flava, g. myr- 

 tifolia, talinum cuspidatum, t. cumanense, and 

 portulaca lanuginosa. Among these herbaceous 

 plants we find at intervals the avicennia tomen- 

 tosa, the scoparia dulcis, a frutescent mimosa 

 with very irritable leaves*, and particularly 

 cassias, the number of which is so great in South 

 America, that we collected, in our travels, more 

 than thirty new species. 



On leaving the Indian suburb, and ascending 

 the river toward the south, we found a grove of 

 cactus, a delightful spot, shaded by tamarinds, 

 brasillettoes, bombax, and other plants, remark- 

 able for their leaves and flowers. The soil here 

 is rich in pasturage, where dairy houses, built 

 with reeds, are separated from each other by 

 clumps of trees. The milk remains fresh, when 

 kept, not in the calebashes^ of very thick lig- 

 neous fibres, but in porous earthen vessels from 

 Maniquarez. A prejudice prevalent in the 



* The Spaniards designate by the name of dormidera* 

 (sleeping plants) the small number of mimosas with irritable 

 leaves. We have increased this number with three species, 

 which were unknown to botanists, namely, the mimosa humi- 

 lis of Cumana, the m . pellita of the savannahs of Calabozo, 

 and the m. dormiens of the banks of the Apura. 



t The fruit of the crescentia cujete. 



