INTRODUCTION. 
xix 
furrounded with an Orange grove : this hill, whole 
bafe was wafhed on one fide by the floods of the 
Mufquitoe river, and on the other fide by the bil- 
lows of the ocean, was about one hundred yards 
diameter, and feemed to be an entire heap of fea 
fhells. I continued along the beach a quarter of 
a mile, and came up to a forefl of the Agave vivi- 
para (though compofed of herbaceous plants, I 
term it a forefl:, becaufe their fcapes or flower- 
Hems arofe eredl near 30 feet high) : their tops re- 
gularly branching in the form of a pyramidal tree, 
and thefe plants growing near to each other, occu- 
pied a fpace of ground of feveral acres : when their 
feeds are ripe they vegetate, and grow on the 
branches, until the fcape dries, when the young 
plants fall to the ground, take root, and fix them- 
felves in the fand : the plant grows to a prodigious 
fize before the fcape (hoots up from its centre. 
Having contemplated this admirable grove, I pro- 
ceeded towards the fhrubberies on the banks of the 
river, and though it was now late in December, 
the aromatic groves appeared in full bloom. The 
broad-leaved fweet Myrtus, Erythrina coralloden- 
drum, Cahlus cochinellifer, Cacalia fuffruticofa, and 
particularly, Rhizophora conjugata, which flood 
clofe to and in the fait water of the river, were in 
full bloom, with beautiful white fweet Rented flowers, 
which attracted to them two or three fpecies of very 
beautiful butterflies, one of which was black, the 
upper pair of its wings very long and narrow, 
marked with tranfverfe ilripes of pale yellow, with 
fome fpots of a crimfon colour near the body. Ano- 
ther fpecies remarkable for fplendour, was of a larger 
fize; the wings were undulated and obtufely ere- 
nated round their ends, the nether pair terminating 
near the body, with a long narrow forked talk the 
ground 
