138 
BLUEFIELDS EIDGE. 
height of about thirty inches, sprang from a mass of 
pseudo-bulbs that had attached themselves to the 
surface of a huge stone. I was much struck with 
the presence of so rich and elegant a flower in so 
gloomy, obscure, and tangled a place, uncared for 
and unknown. For years and years it may have 
successively displayed its gorgeous beauty, without 
the eye of man having ever rested on it ; and for ages 
more it might have continued to blush unseen, but 
for the curiosity of a prying naturalist. 
This lonely road was one of my most favourite 
resorts, and will ever be associated with my most de- 
lightful recollections of Jamaica. I am sure I cannot, 
by any attempt to describe the scene, or by any enu- 
meration of its more prominent constituents, give any 
adequate notion of the peculiar charm that belonged 
to it. The gradual ascent higher and higher up the 
mountain, with the commanding view thus obtained, 
widening and spreading beneath, imparted an exhi- 
laration to the spirits that probably had something 
to do with it. Then the leaving behind, and far below, 
the habitations of man, to plunge into the deep and 
wild solitudes of Nature ; and the thought that pro- 
lished figures of this species, the similarity is so close as to warrant 
their identification. Yet Phajus TankervillicR is a Chinese plant, and 
the genus has never before been recognised in the New World. The 
suggestion occurs that it may have been introduced, and have been 
increased by cultivation, and that the seeds may have been scattered 
by the winds, or carried by birds over the island. The lone humid 
forest at the summit of Bluefields Peak, does not certainly seem a 
very likely locality in which to find a large and beautiful flower 
escaped from a garden. I may add that just a year afterwards I met 
with it again in blossom in the neighbouring woods. 
