A SUMMER IN THE TROPICS. 
9 
The latter part of our journey is chiefly memorable for the 
drenching we received. When we were about three miles from 
Cinchona it began to pour, but we could only stick to our ponies 
and shiveringly recall all we had been told of the fever that 
threatens foreigners who get wet in the tropics. An hour later 
our drooping spirits revived under the hospitality of Mrs. Harris, 
wife of the superintendent of Hope Gardens, who was to care for 
us during our stay. That evening, as indeed every evening there¬ 
after, we sat around an open fire. On retiring we called for more 
blankets, and found use for a heavy steamer rug that had been 
discarded while on the ocean, and we tried to keep warm by re¬ 
minding ourselves that we were within i8° of the equator! 
The dwelling house at Cinchona stands in the midst of a rose 
garden. From the doorstep, looking south across valley and 
mountain, we could see the white roofs of houses down in Kings¬ 
ton, and still further, Port Royal, the port of Kingston, and the 
sea. A terrace in front of the garden slopes down to the nursery, 
' where flourish a number of local and introduced trees and shrubs. 
Back of the house are the servants’ quarters, the stable and the 
laboratories. Of the latter, there are two buildings. The one 
we used is a simple, one-story, wooden structure about thirty feet 
long. On our first inspection, it contained only crude wooden 
tables running the length of the room, some shelves and a quantity 
of driers. But after we had arranged our glassware and appa¬ 
ratus on the shelves, and had set up a formidable array of bottles 
filled with killing fluids, and had brought out our microscopes and 
other instruments, we had as satisfactory a work room as one 
could wish. The only convenience lacking at present is running 
water. Just outside the laboratory is a stone wall where we laid 
in the sun the driers, of which we never had too many hot ones 
for our specimens. 
From the grounds a walk of three miles takes one through 
Morse’s Gap, where are found all the treasure of a tropical vege¬ 
tation. Here the mistletoe thrives on trees and bushes in the 
open places ; orchids, “ wild pines ” * and other epiphytes lodge on 
the branches; here the tree fern is seen in all its glory; mosses 
* i. e., pineapples. 
