ce of the sun's beams, propagate their race. Those chain-
like, fantastic, strange-looking lianes, resembling a family of
boas, are Bauhinias; and beyond, through the opening you see, in the
abandoned ground of some squatter's garden, the trumpet-tree
(Cecropia) and the groo-groo, the characteristic plants of the
rastrajo.

'Now, let us proceed on our walk; we mean the cascade:--Here it is,
opposite to you, a grand spectacle indeed! From a perpendicular
wall of solid rock, of more than three hundred feet, down rushes a
stream of water, splitting in the air, and producing a constant
shower, which renders this lovely spot singularly and deliciously
cool. Nearly the whole extent of this natural wall is covered with
plants, among which you can easily discern numbers of ferns and
mosses, two species of Pitcairnia with beautiful red flowers, some
Aroids, various nettles, and here and there a Begonia. How
different such a spot would look in cold Europe! Below, in the
midst of a never-failing drizzle, grow luxuriant Ardisias, Aroids,
Ferns, Costas, Heliconias, Centropogons, Hydrocotyles, Cyperoids,
and Grasses of various genera, Tradescantias and Commelynas,
Billbergias, and, occasionally, a few small Rubiaceae and
Melastomaceae.'

The cascade, when I saw it, was somewhat disfigured above and below.
Above, the forest-fires of last year had swept the edge of the
cliff, and had even crawled half-way down, leaving blackened rocks
and gray stems; and below, loyal zeal had cut away only too much of
the rich vegetation, to make a shed or stable, in anticipation of a
visit from the Duke of Edinburgh, who did not come. A year or two,
however, in this climate will heal these temporary scars, and all
will be as luxuriant as ever. Indeed such scars heal only too fast
here. For the paths become impassable from brush and weeds every
six months, and have to be cutlassed out afresh; and when it was
known that we were going up to the waterfall, a gang had to be set
to work to save the lady of the party being wetted through by leaf-
dew up to her shoulders, as she sat upon her horse. Pretty it was--
a bit out of an older and more simple world--to see the yeoman-
gentleman who had contracted for the mending of the road, and who
counts among his ancestors the famous Ponce de Leon, meeting us
half-way on our return; dressed more simply, and probably much
poorer, than an average English yeoman: but keep