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276 NEW PUBLICATION.
that of which the bark existed at the Crystal Palace, had been the heiglit of
his ambition among the sights of nature. To gratify this feeling he made purposely
a voyage to the Amazon, of Vhich he has given an interesting account
in Galton's ' Vacation Tourists,' and one might suppose that when at last he
found himself among the vegetable giants of Brazil feelings superior to those
of gratified curiosity would come to the surface. Bat there was nothing of the
kind ; even a botanical interest does not appear to have been roused in him.
Mr. Young's predilection is rather prevalent in the United States, where tra-
vellers are almost bored to death by being taken to see big trees. Dr. Russell,
who went thither for a very different purpose, and during a period of great
civil commotion, I'epeatedly mentions his being forced to visit such objects ; and
he tries to account for the admiration Americans have for their vegetable
monsters by the fact that in the United States few things are old and venerable,
and any exception to that rule is carefully noticed. I remember, in
passing through Cambridge, Massachusetts, seeing a black board, recording
that the mayor and alderman of that town had been such Tandals as to cut
down an old and large tree which stood in tlie middle of the road, and underneath
was written with chalk, ' Let this be remembered at the next election !' "
"A ride of three days from Managua, by way of Tipitapa and Juigalpa,
brought me to Chontales, the finest and most fertile district of Nicaragua.
Approaching it from the west, as I did, you find yourself amongst rich undulating
grass lands, which even at the end of the diy season retain their verdure
and afford pasture to thousands of heads of cattle. On nearing Libertad,
the ground becomes more elevated, the climate considerably cooler, and
you get occasional glimpses of the Lake of Granada, with its islands and ma-
jestic volcanoes. . . . Close to Libertad commences a dense virgin forest,
which extends to the Atlantic seaboard, and a singular feature of which is,
that tlie stems of the ti'ees are of a very light grey, as well indicated by Mr.
George Chambers in some of his clever sketches ; but the correctness of which
I was inclined to doubt until I had actually seen it in the landscape itself."
After giving the history of the gold-mines of Chontales, and de-
scribing its population, the author proceeds :
" In these mountains a species of caoutchouc (known here by its Aztec name
of Ule)^ vanilla, sarsaparilla, quassia, fustic, and other valuable woods abound,
and tliere are many vegetable productions perfectly new to science. Amongst
tlie most noteworthy are a Pitcher-plant {Marcffraavia), every umbel of which
terminates in five flower-bearing pitchers filled with water, a large white
Sobralia, and a tree (Herrania purpurea, Decaisne), with fingered leaves and
small seeds, which are occasionally offered for sale by the Indians, and from
which cliocolate of a flavour superior to that of the common Cacao is manufactured.
Some day this chocolate-tree will doubtless be extensively grown by
Euro})eans ; and, as it ocb,urs in these woods together with the common
naturalized Cacao, it may have been cultivated when this district was more
thickly inhabited by Indians than it is at present.
" The Chontales gold region appears to be a favourite haunt of plants with
variegated leaves. There are some fine species of Costus (including, besides the
well-known C.zeirinus and Malortiauus, several new ones ; two beautiful species
of Cissus, one with briglit scarlet flowers, introduced by me into English gardens)
; and several MarantacecB and AroidecE. But the finest of these is the
one t have named Cyrtodeira Chontalensis, a Gesneraceous plant. The leaves
are purple on the imder side, and on the upper light green (like those of Begonia
smaragdina), with very dark green blotches. The flowers, which appear
in November and December, are lilac, and as large as a crown piece, with a
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