ORCHIDEiB:. 
31 
cords, thrown from one to another, or depending 
from the branches towards the ground. The great 
Keratto, or American aloe, as it is often called {Agave 
herato\ threw up its broad, fleshy, spinous leaves, 
and lofty flower-stalks from the crevices, in profusion ; 
and numerous Cacti, both erect and trailing, helped 
to give a very peculiar character to the vegetation. 
I here saw epiphyte OrcJiidece for the first time 
growing in native wildness. Some large bunches of 
crimson blossom caught my eye, far up above my 
head ; and giving my horse to my negro guide, I 
climbed the rock to examine the plant. It was, as 
I had suspected, the elegant Broughtonia sanguinea, 
growing in profuse luxuriance in tufts, depending 
from the trunks of some Hog-plum trees (Spondias 
graveolens). On another tree, a species of Bignonia, 
I found masses of Brasavola nodosa, with long leaves 
resembling porcupine quills in form, and hanging 
racemes of elegant white flowers. I carefully de- 
tached all the specimens, greatly to the mystification 
of my sable companion ; who, as I afterwards found, 
told his master how the strange buckra had taken 
the trouble to get parcel of hush ! ” 
The mansion of my kind friend afforded me one 
of the most magnificent prospects that I had ever 
beheld. From the wide balcony that surrounds the 
house, the eye roams in one direction over many 
miles of savannah, or open pasture country, with all 
the varieties of surface produced by rounded hills, 
valleys, and sheeted slopes, beautifully spotted with 
large clumps of bushes, imparting somewhat of the 
character of our English downs. In another direction 
