Itl A BOTANIST-^ BAMnAK 4N iJiiNTlUJi A^lKiiKJAJ 
trees a full grown man may stand erect beneath the bole. 
The aerial part of the roots are thickly covered with tubercu- 
lar prickles— which is without doubt a provision of Nature for 
their defence against the attacks of lierbivorus animals , it 
also serves the purpose of supplying the Indians with an efficient 
natural grater, which enables them to reduce their Cassava to a 
pulp. 
Travelling over a considerable tract of country we reached 
the east side of the Island, or that exposed to the full force of 
the strong winds and currents so prevalent in the Caribbean seas. 
In the words of Mrs. Ilemans, 
The breaking waves dashed high on a stern and rock -hound coast, 
And the woods against a stormy, sky their giant branches tossed. 
which was literally true also of the place on which we stood, as 
well as of that portion of the hemisphere farther north, on which 
the Pilgrim Fathers landed. 
The rocks were very hard, heavy, of dark colour, composed of 
pebbles cemented together, forming what appeared to us to be — 
on superficial examination only — a ferruginous conglomerate. They 
were covered with marine mollusca, of many different species, 
and abounded with crabs of all sizes, which were sporting hither 
and thither over them, occasionally w'ashed off* by the spray from 
the breakers. Passing a bluff, on a steep ledge of rocks, our guide 
suddenly halted, and sang out in aloud tone of voice the single 
word — snake ! On approaching the spot, he was found engaged in 
chasing a whip snake,‘which he soon killed by a blow with the back 
of the cutlass. I asked why he used the back instead of the edge 
of the weapon, and found that the people always used a blunt in- 
strument when brought in contact witli these reptiles, which was 
caused by a popular idea, that if the head of a venomous snake 
was severed from the body, the head itself retained a sufficiency 
ol muscular power to effectually use its fangs. I preserved the 
body of this one and on making an incision in the abdomen to 
allow of the entry of the preservative fluid, I extracted from it 
the body of a small lizzard. In length the snake measured three 
feet nine inches, with a diameter of not more than half an inch. 
It has been, together with some pretty little tree frogs, presented 
to the Museum of the Jamaica Institute. 
Approaching the Bull’s Mouth,’’ (Bocas del Tora) on our 
homeward journey we turned a small headland, and found the 
rocks there, abounding with enormous quantities of Brassavola 
nodosa, Lindl., in full bloom ; in fact, the rocks were literally 
white with the expanded flowers of this beautiful species. To cul- 
tivators of orchids, it will be a fact of no little interest to note, 
