56 
[ Eep. No. 564. ] 
should be convinced, by that fact alone, that they Avere deprived of the- 
vegetating properties by boiling, as was done with a small parcel carried 
to Havana/^ 
I should have been greatly obliged to my Mexican friends had they 
told me at once, seven years ago, that they either could not or would not 
aid me ; but, on the contrary, all the leading members of society, the civil 
officers of the town, and the Avealthy planters of the country, very freely 
promised me to collect every thing 1 desired at its proper season of matu¬ 
rity. But that season never arrived. When they or their servants ar¬ 
rived, the seeds were not ripe enough to be collected, or had fallen from 
the trees, and beetl eaten up by animals, or carried away by rains ; or that, 
on account of the excessive dryness or wetness of the season, the fruits 
had not matured, &c. As for the living plants, forty-nine out of fifty that 
finally arrived in this city, are so mutilated, bruised, and dried or rotten, 
that they cannot be preserved evenby my OAvn personal care in transplanting 
them here. If I trust them to others, they are sure to perish. I could 
neA^er obtain a living vanilla vine from Tabasco, until a year and a half 
ago, when I availed myself of the secret policy of making it a regular 
mercantile commission betAveen two old resident foreign merchants, mar¬ 
ried with females of the country. The Campeachy merchant ordered a 
box of cuttings of the Tabasco merchant, and I distributed one by one, at 
least thirty cuttings to all the families Avho were noted for having a few 
plants of ornament or utility in their yards or gardens ; but none exists 
at this day, except one under the care of the aforesaid merchant, and an¬ 
other under my immediate care, of which I sent one new cutting to Cape 
Florida, nearly a year since, and another to Ncav Orleans, about tAvelve 
days ago. So Avith regard to the young pita plants of Tabasco and of G oa- 
zacoalcos. Of more than a hundred, there is now in Campeachy but one 
under my care. One ought to be growing at Cape Florida, and five or 
six at NeAV Orleans, or at least the three Avhich I last sent under the pei^- 
sonal inspection of an American passenger. 
After having conquered every previous difficulty, even the task of car¬ 
rying the plants from my own yard to the mole, and thence aboard the 
vessel, is a severe trial both to my health and temper. My last remittance 
to New Orleans, in the Mexican schooner Francisca, consisted of upwards 
of 50 medium-sized plants of the two cultivated varieties of the Sisal hemp ; 
upAvards of 200 leaves, or joints, of two varieties of the cochineal cactus ; 
20 hives of stingless bees ; 2 full-groAvn plants of the eatable pinuela, or 
bromelia penguin ; 100 joints of the delicious pitahaya, or straAvberry 
pear, of a cactus triangularis ; a number of joints of other pleasant-fruited 
species of cactus, &c., besides three young pita plants, and a vanilla plant. 
You are aware that since the cholera, a year ago, I have not enjoyed 
at any one time more than ten or tweNe days of health or strength suffi¬ 
cient to be in the street. Nevertheless, on the 26th ultimo, it was requis¬ 
ite that I should labor personally in the sun to prepare the plants, &c. in 
the yard ; to walk along the carts which carried them to the mole ; and 
to see them safe in the canoes to carry them aboard ; and to suffer the in¬ 
sults of the populace, Avho cursed me for robbing their plants, and the au¬ 
thorities for permitting me to collect and carry them aAvay. The carmen 
and canoemen exacted double and treble prices ; injured the plants as 
much as possible on the route ; treated me with the most insolent con¬ 
versation ; and contrived it so, that av hen the cart arrived the canoe would 
