aotflE TO BATABAXO. 
177 
put 6ur collections in order, a thousand obstacles arose to 
impede our departure. There ■was no vessel in the port of 
the Havannah that would convey us to Porto Bello or 
Carthageua. The persons 1 consulted seemed to take plea- 
sure in exaggerating the difficulties of the passage of the 
isthmus, and the dangerous voyage from Panama to Gruya- 
ijuil, and from Guyaquil to Lima and Valparaiso. Not 
being able to find a passage in any neutral vessel, I freighted 
u Catalonian sloop, lying at Batabano, which was to be at 
my disposal to take me either to Porto Bello or Carthageua, 
occording as the gales of Saint Martha might permit.* Tin; 
prosperous state of commerce at the Havannah, and tin; 
multiplied connections of that city with the ports of the 
Pacific, would facilitate for me the means of procuring funds 
for several years. General Don Gonzalo O’Farrill resided 
ilk that time in my native country, as minister of the court 
of Spain. I could exchange my revenues in Prussia for a 
Jiart of his at the island of Cuba ; and the family of Don 
Ygnacio O’Farritl y Herera, brother of the general, con- 
curred kindly in all that could favour my new projects. On 
the 6th of Slarch, the vessel I had freighted was ready to 
deceive us. The road to Batabano led us once more by 
Ciuines to the plantation of Eio Blanco, the property of 
^ount Jaruco y Mopox. 
The road from Rio Blanco to Batabano runs across an 
Uncultivated country, half covered with forests ; in the open 
®pots, the indigo plant and the cotton-tree grow' wild. As 
the capsule of the Gossypium opens at the season when the 
northern storms are most frequent, the down that envelop.s 
the seed is swept from one side to the other ; and the 
gathering of the cotton, which is of a very fine quality, 
®nflers greatly. Several of our friends, among whom was 
lienor de Mendoza, captain of the port of Valparaiso, and 
brother to the celebrated astronomer who resided so long in 
Condon, accompanied us to Potrero de Mopox. In herbo- 
rizing further southward, we found a new palm-tree with 
tan-leaves, (Corypha maritima), having a free tlircad between 
the interstices of the folioles. This Corypha covers a part 
uf the southern coast, and takes place of the majestic palma 
* The gales of Saint Martha blow with great violence at that season 
latitude 12*. 
Ton. ni IT 
