THE BAMBOO. 
201 
that they can be recognised at a great distance, 
almost as far as the surface of the mountain-side can 
itself be seen. There is one on the side of the 
Luana mountains above the picturesque estate of 
Grand Vale, a small one about half 'svay up the 
acclivity of Bluefields mountain, and a much more 
extensive one near Haddo, on the road from Savanna- 
le-Mar to Montego Bay, on the other side of the 
Island. Some small but interesting clumps are 
growing in Bluefields pasture, which wave their 
plumes over the romantic little river that meanders 
through it. A beautiful contrivance connected with 
the growth of the Bamboo has been frequently 
noticed, but I may be excused for mentioning it 
again, for its interest ; especially as, in my own inde- 
pendent observations, it had excited my admiration. 
Any one looking at a dense Bamboo clump, the 
polished rigid stems standing but a foot, or even 
less, apart, and each bristling with stiff branches 
shooting out horizontally in every direction, — would 
ask, “ How is it possible for fresh stems to rear 
themselves through such a labyrinth of crossed and 
re- crossed branches ? Surely their side shoots would 
catch some of these horizontal rods before the stem 
was well out of the ground, and either be broken off 
while young and tender, or be irreparably distorted!” 
Yet we never see such distortion ; each stem bears 
its whorls of horizontal branches, and each branch 
finds its place among its fellows, adding to the maze, 
and apparently to the impenetrability. 
The contrivance, however, which obviates all diffi- 
culty is most simple. The new stem shoots up from 
