About ten A.M.
`` You are right , sir , '' struck in Murchison , the engineer ; `` and , if I mistake not , we shall ere long find a suitable spot for our purpose . '' `` I wish we were at the first stroke of the pickaxe , '' said the president . `` And I wish we were at the _ last _ , '' cried J. T. Maston . About ten A.M. the little band had crossed a dozen miles . To fertile plains succeeded a region of forests . There perfumes of the most varied kinds mingled together in tropical profusion . These almost impenetrable forests were composed of pomegranates , orange-trees , citrons , figs , olives , apricots , bananas , huge vines , whose blossoms and fruits rivaled each other in color and perfume .