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PREFACE. 
ment as to an Index : by it he will be referred to the place 
it occupies in the Natural System, where the different spe- 
cies w r ill be enumerated. A little practice will render this 
easy, and the student will gradually acquire a knowledge of 
the Natural Orders, without being exposed to discourage- 
ment by the obstacles which he would otherwise encounter. 
I take this opportunity of expressing my obligations to 
the writings of Professor De Candolle of Geneva, w 7 hose 
arrangement of the Natural Orders, exposed in the Prodro- 
mus Systematis Universalis liegni Vegetabilis, I have strictly 
followed. To his works, also, I acknowledge myself in a 
great measure indebted for the definitions of the genera, 
and, with those of Lindley and Richard, for the general 
descriptions of the Orders. As to the introduction of the 
latter in the present publication, it may be objected that 
the reader might with more propriety have been referred 
to the works from which they have been drawn. I have to 
state in answer, that although I am not without hopes that 
this work may be thought worthy of the notice of the emi- 
nent in the Science, still as my principal aim is to facili- 
tate the study of the Botany of these Islands, I considered 
they could not with propriety be left out, especially as, in 
the West Indies, books of Science are scarce, and with 
difficulty procured. 
I need scarcely state that I shall thankfully avail myself 
of any information, which may be communicated to me by 
any one who has made the Botany of Jamaica an object 
of his attention. As for my own share of labour, I may 
be allowed to state, that it has occupied a great portion of 
my leisure during a residence of upwards of twelve years in 
the Island. I have carefully examined the characters of 
every plant within my reach, and compared my own de- 
scriptions with those of preceding Botanists. I have visited 
a considerable portion of the Island, so that I have had 
opportunities of studying the peculiarities of the Flora of 
