THE PALISADES. 
23 
same moment the captain’s gig was lowered to convey 
himself and the passengers across the beautiful broad 
harbour, to the thriving city at its head. But it was 
as a naturalist that I was there, and the sea-beaten 
shore promised me greater gratification than a visit 
to Kingston ; hence I availed myself of the boat only 
to be put ashore at Port Royal Wharf, whence I 
speedily found my way to the long sandy beach of 
the Palisades. 
It is true there was little of the luxuriance or 
beauty that we associate with tropical scenery, here. 
It is a low bank of sand nearly nine miles in length ; 
but scarcely any where more than a few hundred 
yards in breadth, forming a natural breakwater that 
separates the broad lake-like harbour of Kingston 
from the Caribbean Sea. I found it barren enough ; 
but it was all strange, and to feet which for nearly 
two months had not felt the firm earth, even a run 
along the beach was exhilarating. The graceful 
Cocoa-nut Palm sprang up in groups from the water’s 
edge, waving its feathery fronds over the rippling 
waves that dashed about its fibrous foot. Great 
bushes of Prickly-pear and other Cacti were growing 
on the low summit of the bank, covering large spaces 
of ground, with their impenetrable masses, presenting 
a formidable array of spines : as did also a species of 
Acacia, that grew in thickets and single trees. All 
along the line of high water lay heaps of sea-weeds 
drying in the sun, among which was particularly 
abundant a species of Padina, closely resembling the 
pretty “Peacock’s tail” of our own shores, though 
less regularly beautiful. Sponges of various forms. 
