194 
BLUEFIELDS. 
the minute seeds, enveloped in mucilage, were thus 
left on the tree, which the rain presently washed 
down into the broad concavity of the forks, where 
among moss and rotten leaves it soon germinated and 
grew'. The roots gradually crept down the trunk of 
the supporting tree, closely clinging to its hark, and 
by their interlacement at length formed a living case, 
enveloping it on every side, and penetrating the earth 
around its base. The growth of these, and also of 
the enclosed tree, daily induced a tighter and tighter 
pressure, which at length arrived at such a degree 
as to stop the circulation of the sap between the 
bark and wood. Death of course was the result, 
and speedy decay reduced the supporting tree to a 
heap of mouldering dust ; while the parasite, now 
able to maintain its own position by its hollow cone 
of roots, increased in size and strength, and over- 
topped its fellows of the forest ; — a tree standing 
upon stilts. 
THE ANT-LION. 
July \Qtli. — One of the old buildings, now fast 
going to decay on Bluefields estate, was, in the 
time of sugar cultivation, the mill-house. The 
wheel was turned by water power, a stream from the 
upper part of the rivulet having been led through a 
long aqueduct into the mill, and passing off through 
a deep and narrow trench to the lower course of the 
river. Through this winding trench, cut to a depth 
of fifteen or twenty feet, but not more than a yard 
wdde, and now so entirely choked up and overgrown 
