26 
ALLIGATOR POND. 
ALLIGATOR POND. 
Dec, 9t]i. — A few hours’ run from Port Royal 
brought us to Alligator Pond. Most parts of the 
intermediate coast had a most sterile appearance, the 
hills being covered with small scrubby wood, unre- 
lieved for miles by a single plantation. The little 
village of Carlisle displayed a pleasanter scene, where 
on the flat were seen flelds of sugar-cane of a delicate 
light green hue waving in the breeze, windmills with 
their sails in revolution, the smoke ascending from 
the boiling-houses and other buildings of a sugar 
estate, and men and cattle actively performing the 
several duties of the culture or manufacture. Alli- 
gator Pond is the mouth of a valley which runs up 
between the May Day Mountains and the Santa 
Cruz Mountains. It consists of a few stores, with 
a wharf, a dwelling-house, and a few negro huts. I 
went on shore with an insect net. On the sandy beach, 
so loose and heavy that I could scarcely walk on it, 
the Convolvulus 'pes cajprce was growing in profusion, 
covering its upper part with a carpet of verdure, and 
trailing its long stems in every direction over the 
beach, while its beautiful purple blossoms, mingled 
with the pink flowers of the Canavalia rosea, grace- 
fully relieved the dark foliage. Here an active pre- 
daceous beetle {Cicindela Guadalupensis) was run- 
ning and flying alternately with the wary agility 
common to the genus, so as to be difficult of capture. 
The soil all around consists of the same heavy 
sand, into which the feet sink to the ankle at every 
