plant, it will be remembered, was so abundant and so pleasant to the
senses as to attract the attention of the early explorers who
accompanied Columbus across the sea.

There seems to be at times a strange narcotic influence in the
atmosphere of the island, realized more especially inland, where the
visitor is partially removed from the winds which commonly blow from
the Gulf in the after part of the day. So potent has the writer felt
this influence that at first it was supposed to be the effect of some
powerful and medicinal plant abounding in the neighborhood; but on
inquiry it was found that this delightful sense of ease and indolent
luxuriousness was not an unusual experience, particularly among
strangers, and was solely attributable to the narcotic of the soft
climate. By gently yielding to this influence one seemed to dream
while awake, and though the sense of hearing is diminished, that of
the olfactories appears to be increased, and pleasant odors float on
every passing breeze. One feels at peace with all human nature, and a
sense of voluptuous ease overspreads the body. Others have experienced
and remarked upon this sensation of idle happiness. The only
unpleasant realizing sense during the enjoyment of this condition is
the fear that some human voice, or some chance noise, loud and abrupt,
may arouse the dreamer from his trance.

Specimens of the Indian fig, as it is called here, will be sure to
attract the visitor's eye on his inland excursions. It clasps,
entwines, and finally, serpent-like, kills the loftiest forest
monarchs, and taking their place, firmly roots itself and becomes a
stately tree, fattening upon its ill-gotten possession. Its unfading
leaf of vivid green is beautiful to look upon, in spite of its known
and treacherous character. In many respects it typifies the Spanish
discoverers of this beautiful isle, who gradually possessed themselves
of its glorious heritage by the destruction of its legitimate owners.

The manner in which that prolific tree, the cocoanut palm, is
propagated was a curious and interesting study for a leisure hour, the
germination having been with us heretofore an unsolved riddle. Within
the hard shell of the nut, among the mass of rich creamy substance,
near the large end, is a small white lump like the stalk of a young
mushroom, called the ovule. This little finger-like germ of the future
tree gradually forces itself through one of the three eyes always to
be found o