208 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
All the valleys are fertile and well watered with streams of good 
water, whose origin is high up in the mountains. These streams in 
the dry season are comparatively small, hut swell into raging tor¬ 
rents after heavy rains. The windward slopes of the Soufriere and 
vicinity are drained by the Dry River. The channel of this river, 
a stream of average size before the eruption of 1812, was at that 
time completely filled and choked with scoriae, rocks, and gravel 
underneath which the water now ordinarily finds its way to the sea, 
disappearing some distance before it reaches the coast. In floods, 
however, the water comes down with great force and in large quan¬ 
tities, Ailing the rocky bed, which is 200 yards across at the point 
where the windward road crosses it. On these occasions it is very 
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destructive, and has already washed a wav many acres of cane land 
on its right bank. 
O 
The slopes of the higher mountains are scored with deep ravines, 
and during the rainy season white clouds hover over them dav and 
night. Here the vegetation partakes largely of an arboreal character, 
with an abundant undergrowth of ferns, and, on the margins and 
banks of streams, species of Seitaminae, Aroideae, Cyperaceae, and 
some palms. Of the true ferns there are four species of Cyathea, 
two of Hemitelia, and three of Alsophila. At all elevations on the 
mountain slopes are numerous open glades, showing the sites of for¬ 
mer cultivations that have become covered with coarse grasses and 
dry-loving ferns, such as Gleichenia. 
In the lowlands, in valleys, and on easy slopes, the original vege¬ 
tation has been for the most part cleared off, and in its place are 
fields of arrowroot, sugar cane, and other plants. On the rocky 
cliffs are found numerous trees and bushes of stunted growth, some 
of them overhanging the sea. 
St. Vincent (like Barbados) is singularly free from swamps; 
hence there is nowhere any large extent of that tangled vegetation 
so characteristic of marshy districts in the tropics. The mangrove 
trees are only very sparsely distributed. The manehioneel ( Hippo - 
mane mancinelld) and the seaside grape (Coccoloba uvifera ) are 
found on the sea beaches in the Windward district. 
The island of St. Vincent is situated 98 miles directly west of 
Barbados, and 21 miles south-southwest of St. Lucia. It is 18 
miles in length by 11 in breadth, with an area of 132 square miles, 
and a population of about 40,000. The chief town is Kingstown, 
