M.
BOTANICAL MISCELLANY;
CONTAINING
FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS
or
SUCH PLANTS AS RECOMMEND THEMSELVES BY THEIR NOVELTY, RARITY, OR HISTORY,
OR BY THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED IN THE ARTS, IN MEDICINE, AND IN DOMESTIC CECONOMY;
TOGETHER WITH
OCCASIONAL BOTANICAL NOTICES AND INFORMATION.
- WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, LL. D., F. R. A. & L. S., &c. &c.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW,
VOL. IIL |^?
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXXIII.
TWO SCIENTIFIC BOTANICAL NOTICES, BY THE LATE
DR. HENRY MERTENS,
NATURALIST ON BOARD THE SINIAVIN, CAPT. V. LUTKENS, BOUND ON A RUSSIAN VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ;
WRITTEN AT KAMTSCHATCHA, IN OCTOBER 1827: THE FIRST CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS SPECIES OF FUCI;
THE SECOND DETAILING
AN EXCURSION TO THE TOP OF THE WERSTOVOI, AT NEW ARCHANGEL, IN NORFOLK SOUND.
[Extracted from the ** Linnea,” a Botanical Journal, conducted by D. F. L. Von Schlechtendat. Fol. IV. January 1829.}
* WE met with Fucus pyriferus, for the first time, near Falk- land Islands: it thence was seen in greater abundance as we approached the stormy latitudes of Cape Horn, diminish- ing, however, in frequency with the increased distance from land, and occurring in the greatest plenty as we steered along the coast of Chili. "The waves of the sea carried it past our vessel in large masses, like floating islands, which were sometimes even covered with aquatic birds. At the Bay of Conception, this plant encumbered the shores, becoming rarer about Valparaiso, and I think to have seen it for the last time when we left this coast, which is very poor in marine productions. Knowing that the Fucus pyriferus is mentioned by authors as a native only of the Southern Hemisphere, I was surprised to meet with it again on the North-west Coast of America.* The whole of Norfolk Sound is filled with it, and it grows upon all the islands ;
* I have myself found this Fucus among marine rejectamenta in the Bay of St. Francisco, New California, situated in 37° 48/ N. latitude. (Chamisso. )
VOL. III, B :
2
occurring, though in less profusion, at Unalaschka, and not appearing at all on the islands to the eastward of the Aleu- tian, nor on the more northerly island of St. George. Not a single sea-weed was to be seen on the shores of the Mat- weis Island. I was enabled by some specimens which I collected on the strand of Sitcha, to ascertain the nature of the fructification in this group of Fuci; it is situated, as a cristate portion of the leafy substance, immediately above the vesicle, which is distinguished by its darker colour: the root is precisely that of a Laminaria.
* Among the rejectamenta of the sea, another gigantic Fucus* occurs, both in the Bays of Conception and Valpa- raiso, and equally plentiful at either place; but 1 cannot determine it with certainty. A much-branched root, similar to what we see in Fucus saccharinus, esculentus, &c. produces a round stipes, extending to some feet in length, and of the equal diameter throughout of 13 inch. Its substance con- sists of wide irregularly-sized cells, filled with a thick gela- tinous mass, This stipes expands into a frond, 2-5 feet broad, and above an inch thick ; ramifying, frequently, into long, at first flattish, but afterwards rounder thongs, or to speak more correctly, cord-like twigs, which measure nearly 30 feet, and terminate in almost thready points. The stipes and frond assume, in drying, the consistency of leather; but the twigs, which, when fresh may be even braided together, when exposed to the influence of the parching heat of Chili, snap like glass, even when the great- est care is used in handling them. I have with difficulty preserved some specimens in a tolerable state. This sea- weed forms a favourite article of food with the poorer classes of Chilenos, who prepare a savoury soup from it. It has nothing in common with F. digitatus; nor do I venture to place it among the Laminaria, though even F. buccinalis has been arranged there.
= * Fucus antarcticus (Chamisso in Choris’ Voyage Pittoresque Traversée de Cronstadt au Chili, p. 7. t. 7.) Bot. etus d Fl. Apr. 1823:— D' Urvillea — of Bory de St. Vincent. (Chanisso.)
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- *' Norfolk Sound, which I may call the Bantry Bay of the North-West coast of America, is equally rich in beautiful Fuci as in rare and remarkable marine animals of every family ; and I doubt if a more delightful strand for sea-weeds is to be found. The variety of species equals the number in which they occur. Of the known kinds I only cite the fol- lowing from a momentary recollection: F. tomentosus, floc- cosus, Larix, herbaceus, asplenioides, costatus, punctatus, ul- voides, saccatus, &c. I here saw F. vesiculosus again, in the greatest plenty, but growing only on stones, and varying from the European plant, by producing no vesicles, which at first induced me to look upon it as a variety of F. cera- noides. The Kalosches eat the lower part of its stipes, both raw and cooked: I have tried it in the fresh state, but could perceive no peculiar flavour. F. esculentus and saccharinus are plentiful, and both of them are eaten, as is F. edulis, which is chiefly collected for winter store. F. costatus is certainly not recognisable from Turner’s figure; it is of a firmer substance than digitatus, attaining the length and breadth of saccharinus, whose various forms it commonly assumes. The fructification is in roundish protuberances, which commence in a broad lower part of the base of the frond, and terminate towards the middle of the same point, running along both sides of the ribs. "The various occupa- tions that filled my hands at Sitcha, would not allow of my paying particular attention to the unknown and perhaps new species which abounded here: one, however, was too remarkable to be passed over in silence, the more so, as it is quite a feature in the appearance of Norfolk Sound. A root, ramified in the manner of the Laminarias, produces a stipes, like packthread, and everywhere of uniform thick- ness, about 2 or 3 feet long, and suddenly swelling at the end into a perfectly round, large, bladder nut. 'The upper portion of this hemispherical body bears a tuft of geminate leaves, mostly rising on five peduncles: but in the division of these peduncles, there never exists such a symmetry as that the fifth is found exactly in the centre and opposite to the point of insertion of the stipes at the vesicle; rather,
B2
4
there were 3 on one side, and 2 only on the other. In some rare instances, I noticed but 4 leaf-stems, 2 on either side. ‘The summit of the vesicle always presented an open space: the leaves are lanceolate, sharply attenuated at both extremities, their substance like the frond of F. Phyllitis, about 1j to 2 feet long, and measuring 2 inches in their greatest breadth ; some longitudinal nerves appear, of uncer- tain number, running from the base of the leaf to the middle, where they are lost in the substance. Such is the configura- tion of this Fucus in a young state; when older it alters so as to be scarcely recognisable, and then only acquires that remarkable appendage, which I before alluded to, and which I shall now proceed to explain. In advanced age, the stipes becomes immensely long, without, however, increasing pro- portionably in thickness; for whilst it remains at the base of the stoutness of packthread, its diameter, at 10 or 15 fathoms distance, scarcely measures 2} lines. Gradually, the vesicle changes into a turnep-shaped, or retort-like cylinder, more than a fathom long, measuring, at its broad- est dimension that supports the leaf near the end, 4-6 inches and even more, in diameter, while the lower end gradually and quite imperceptibly loses itself in the stipes. 'The formation of the frond keeps an equally gradual ad- vance: the leaves described above are numerously divided in their length, the nerves of the young leaves indicating their future points of separation. Entangled at their bases by matting together, these attain a very great length and an equal increase of breadth; the tuft now covering an immense surface with its crowded masses. In one specimen, by no means the largest, which I examined, I calculated that there were upwards of 50 leaves, each 27 feet long. The Russians call this Fucus, (to which I had previously given the spe- cific name of Lutkeanus, in honour of our worthy Com- mander, who daily shows himself more zealous in favouring our Natural History labours,) See Otter Kohl, or the Sea Otter’s Cabbage. "The valuable animal, Lutra marina, makes particular choice of this sea-weed, as its favourite refuge and residence; delighting to rock and sleep on the long cylin-
5
drical bladders, which, like enormous sea-serpents, float on the surface of the water, and individually sweep between the little islands, rendering the channels impassable, even for boats. From the information that I collected from various Russians and Aleutians concerning its duration, this Fucus is annual. In autumn it is cast in great quantities on shore by the then prevalent storms, where it soon decays, and in spring not the least trace of it is to be seen. -The Aleutians employ the stipes, which is said sometimes to be 45 fathoms long, for fishing-lines:* I purchased one of them. I once saw the Kadiakensers, in Sitcha, make use of the cylinder as a siphon, for pumping the water out of their Beidarkas; an use to which it is well known that the F. buccinalis is often applied at the Cape of Good Hope. Owing to the moist climate of Sitcha, the drying of this sea-weed is attended with considerable difficulty. I hardly ever succeeded in pre- serving a tolerable specimen of the cylinder or bladder, though I bestowed much pains and labour on the operation, for this part generally dissolves completely, or if dried, the leaves then become brittle as glass, and fall to pieces with the slightest touch. The opening of the bladder and dis- charging the water which it uniformly contains, only hastens the process of decomposition: though the bladders of F. pyri- Jerus, if similarly treated, always dried quickly and well, I have preserved some young specimens in spirits. The fruc- tification of this Fucus consists in dark-coloured, more or less elongated spots, irregularly scattered in the substance of the leaves. In the Bay of Illulak I only saw it in one place, and never again afterwards.
* I was not able to find Fucus Menziesii at Norfolk Sound, though I repeatedly sought for it. Many of the sea-weeds which I had observed at Sitcha, appeared again at Unalaschka: those with perforated fronds seemed to be the most interesting kinds. Here I first saw the beautiful. Fucus Clathrus, which Agardh, in 1821, placed in the list Specierum inquirendarum, although he had before him the
* We saw these fishing-lines at Unalaschka, but had no opportunity et. examining the Fucus which produced them, (Chamisso.)
6
specimens that Chamisso had brought home. The Botanist will derive no more information respecting this interesting Fucus from Agardh's subsequent work, published three years after, in which he simply says, * Fucus Clathrus, lamina stipitata ecostata cribrosa spiraliter involuta." The ocean hardly boasts a more beautiful production than this: it is generaly about the height of a man, very bushy and branched, each branch bearing a broad leaf at its extremity, which unfolds spirally, and by this gradual development produces the stipes with its branches and lateral divisions. A spiral border, wound round the stipes, indicates the growth of the frond, The frond presents a large, convex, bent lamella, without nerves; or to a certain degree a leaf, of which one-half is wanting, for the stipes may be consi- dered as a central nerve. A number of rather long narrow perforations, arranged in a radiate form, give the frond the appearance of a cut fan; these foramina being coeval with the formation of the frond, and apparently not owing to inequalities of substance, as Turner thinks is the case in F. Agarum. At first, these foramina, which are situated near the stipes, and where the frond is bent in, are round, and have their margins turned outwards; but by the subse- quent growth of the frond, they become longer, and their margins disappear; in the middle of the frond they are like true clefts, but nearer the margins, from the greater deve- lopment of the leafy substance, they are more contracted in their breadth, and therefore seem round. The frond has a complete and entire margin, but is frequently torn; its sub- stance is coriaceous. I have never detected any fructifica- tion. The root resembles that of the larger Laminarias, but - is more woody. This Fucus is very plentiful in the Bay of Illulak, and round the whole island of Amaknak. It clothes the rocky shore, like a thick hedge, for a space of 60 or 80 feet, forming, at a little distance, a very pleasing feature in the scenery. Its stalk is often adorned with the elegant Fucus asplenioides, which is nowhere found more luxuriant
and perfect; in the Bay of Awatscha it is less numerous, smaller, and not so much ramified.
7
Besides the curious Fucus just described, I also possess three other species with perforated fronds, quite distinct from one another: but from the quotations in Turner and Agardh, it is impossible to ascertain which of them is really the plant that Gmelin, (whose work, alas! I cannot here examine,) originally named F. Agarum; a single glance at Gmelin’s figures, however indifferent these might be, would clear up the point, so unlike one another are these species, even at first sight. All three are inhabitants of the coast of Kamtschatka; at Unalaschka I remarked only one of them, and on other coasts I did not see any of this family. The most beautiful, which is at the same time the largest and most frequent at Unalaschka, I was obliged to look upon as Fucus Agarum,* though I cannot conceive how Turner could give so bad a figure; at Kamtschatka I only saw the species represented in the Historia Fucorum, although the resemblance there is far from perfect. Some circum- stances in Turner’s and Agardh’s descriptions lead me to suppose, that this is the true F. Agarum, t. 32, and that the former author figured, under that name, a plant which I shall quote farther on, as F. eribrosus, n. sp. The stipes, rising from a strong, ramified root, 2-3 inches long, pre- senting a semi-spiral twist, 3 lines broad and 2 lines thick, almost suddenly stretches into a nerve, an inch in width, which runs through the frond, 2 or 2} feet long. The form which the frond describes, is generally oval; only as the substance of the leaf, from the nerve towards the margin, increases very considerably in bulk, so the form becomes indistinct, owing to the folds and sinuosities thereby occa- sioned. The proportion between the length of the half margin of the frond, and that of the nerve, is about 1 to 7; for instance, in a specimen, of which the nerve measured 18 inches, the length of the margin, from the base of the nerve to its termination, was 10 feet and even more. 'The whole of the frond is perforated with a number of generally almost circular, irregularly placed holes; varying
* Correctly so." Professor Mertens,
8
in diameter from £ line to an inch. In most instances, these foramina are larger, the nearer they are to the nerve; and in that situation, their margin is mostly undulated, so as to have a crenulated appearance. This circumstance gives the frond a very pretty and characteristic aspect; which the other species do not possess. The margin of the leaf is per- fectly entire, neither serrated nor waved, its whole consist- ency very firm, and almost cartilaginous. The second Fucus of this family, which may certainly be referred to Turner’s figure, I have called F. eribrosus. It differs essentially from the former individual, and, in general, scarcely attains a third of the size. The frond is even, scarcely waved at all, and nearly as membranous as an Ulva: its form is oval-lan- ceolate, somewhat cordate at the base. The whole frond, properly speaking, is perforated like a sieve; the holes, which are more or less round, present but little difference in their size, the largest being about 3 or 4 lines in diameter. There is nothing of that crenulated appearance in the margin which marks the preceding species. The younger holes, situated nearest to the base, are peculiar in having their margins alternately directed to one or other side of the frond; the nerye, which at first is somewhat broader towards the middle of the leaf, is very narrow at its base, even slenderer than the stem, which has the uniform thick- ness of twine, and is about 2} inches long. I saw this species frequently clothed with a web-like, new, and unde- scribed Sertularia. It occurs in the Bay of Awatscha only.
“Lastly, the third species, which I have called F. per- tusus, differs from the two others in its perforations not appearing at first: for instance, at the base of the fronds, instead of holes, we there observe only small cavities, and bladder-like protuberances, in which the substance of the leaf is afterwards seen to be wanting, and which finally form the circular, though more or less distorted, foramens. - Similar protuberances and hollows cover the whole frond between the holes. In the form of the frond it probably bears some affinity to the first species, but the imperfect - specimens which I have hitherto found do not enable me to
9
prove it. The substance is exactly analogous to a cabbage- leaf, and there is some resemblance in the inequalities of its upper surface. The Harbour of St. Peter and. St. Paul is the only station that I remarked for this plant, where it is one of the species most abundantly thrown up at this season of the year.
* [n the environs of Illulak I found many and very singular varieties of Fucus esculentus : Unalaschka being, as it were, the central point in the range of this species. In some indi- viduals, the fronds were unusually broad, even resembling the foliage of the Banana ;* and, like them, there were long lacerations in their substance, caused by the violence of the waves: the nerve, in this variety, was round and homo- geneous; in another form, it was very broad and decidedly quadrangular, besides being hollow and nearly compressed at intervals, so as to assume an almost jointed appearance: the frond was also generally very narrow, frequently only like a bordered fringe to the nerve; in another variety it assumed a spirally twisted form. The fruit-bearing pinna also was very polymorphous; sometimes quite round, fre- quently oval, and occasionally acute on both sides. The extremes of these aspects were most dissimilar, though con- nected by such gradually intermediate gradations, that it was impossible to say where one ended and another began. The Kamtschatkan specimens are all remarkable for the smallness of the fructiferous pinna. The Bay of Awatscha at Kamtschatka, though generally poor in marine produc- tions, yet afforded me, besides all the kinds above noticed, many other interesting species, some of which are decidedly
* The Fucus esculentus certainly bears a striking resemblance to the leaves of the Banana, When the Rurik, in the spring of 1817, was entering the harbour of Unalaschka, our friend Kadu from Ulea stood by my side on the quarter- deck, gazing silently at the new country to which we were taking him: its mournfully barren shores, its heights covered with snow. But when he saw this Fucus floating round the vessel, he hastily caught my hand, and exclaimed with rapture, “ Kaibaran! Kaibaran!” (Bananas, Bananas!) Reluctantly undeceived, he soon afterwards, when we landed, begged that I would plant some of the Cocoas which he had with him, to supply future food for the people. ( Chamisso.)
10
new. ` One of them is a Laminaria, its frond is simple and like a ribband, frequently a fathom in length, nerveless, with a spathulate base, of which the auricles are turned and twisted inwards, on which account I have given to this species the name of F. Cornucopie. The stipites, of which two spring from each root, ascend in opposite directions, and strike down a few fibres from their under-side; soon after, each stipes expands into the spathule that I have described. This Laminaria, which comes nearest to L. saccharina, can neither be confounded with it, nor with any other: it always grows singly; though the roots of six or eight individuals are often so interwoven, that they cannot be easily separated. Perhaps the F. bifidus, Gmelin, is but an imperfect and ill-described specimen of this plant.
* A second, hitherto undescribed and no less rare species on the coast of Kamtschatka, is completely spongy, and might, at first view, be taken for a Spongia; but a slight examination of its internal structure removes all doubt of its vegetable or fucoid nature. It may rank near F. tomen- tosus, and consequently belongs to the genus Codium of Agardh: I have provisionally called it F. dam«ecornis ; the sessile and variously divided frond, cut in many irregular segments to the very base, each segment being again digi- tate and lobed, gives it a resemblance to the anthers of a fallow-deer. "This sea-weed is chiefly found growing on the stems of F. Clathrus ; its colour is a brownish purple, and its touch and appearance resemble Manchester velvet. The circle which a single frond describes often exceeds a foot; its thickness is about a line; and when cut through, there appear many yellow granules, filled with a fluid, imbedded among fibres. This species dries very readily, contrary to expectation, and in doing so, exhales no unpleasant odour.
“ The third new species which I shall enumerate, is here found very plentifully, though good specimens are rare; Turner mentions it in his Historia Fucorum, though both his figure and description leave many points in doubt, as the Kamtschatkan form of F. saccatus. Agardh quotes this form as the original and true appearance of F. saccatus,
il
from which, however, it is very different, the latter being plentiful both in Norfolk Sound and here. I say nothing of the aspect of the plant, which Agardh has tolerably well described; but shall only state that the internal substance of the two is perfectly heterogeneous. In the American species, the sack is round, the membrane which constitutes it very thin; and if this sack be full of sea-water, the con- tents, on its being pressed with the finger, escape forcibly through a number of pores on all sides: while in most of the individuals which occur here, the sack collapses laterally like parchment, and the little water which it contains is not sent out to any distance by compression. The colour of the sack in this kind is always red. : * [ must here take notice of another species, most nearly related to the first; in which the base of the sack is prolonged into a point, whilst in the other kinds it is constantly rounded off. I found the American species only on F. vesi- culosus, which occasionally grows here on such stones as are periodically washed by the tides. "To conclude, I farther mention that at Sitcha, I gathered still another saccate kind, inhabiting F. Larix. Iam, however, yet doubtful if it properly belongs to the Fuci, as its sack shows a tendency to pass into a gelatinous membrane. F. digitatus occurs here in various shapes; a dozen different aspects of it now lie before me, which merge imperceptibly into one another. Whether Agardh's species, Laminaria reniformis, brevipes, and even Belvisii, have been accurately examined, is doubtful. The fructification is in darker, more elevated, and sinuated portions of the frond. The F. evanescens, Agardh, which Chamisso gathered here, I can consider as nothing more than a variety of F. vesiculosus, although it is the only Fucus ` occurring here of this form. I have sought everywhere, and in vain, for F. Myrica; and I am still doubtful as to F.
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—SECOND EXTRACT;
Containing the Account of an Excursion made by Dr. H. Mertens, to the summit of the Werstovoi at New Archangel, in Norfolk Sound :—from a Letter addressed to a friend at St. Petersburg.
PREFATORY REMARKS BY ADRIAN VON CHAMISSO.
* Nonrork Sound (called Sitka or Sitcha by the Russians), of whose luxuriant vegetation this learned Naturalist here displays to our view a striking portrait, is situated in the 57th degree of north latitude, on the north-west coast of America, to the eastward of that extensive gulf formed by this part of the continent; which, again, under the 60th degree N. lat. stretches in an opposite direction westerly, being changed by a great volcanic mountain, and then pro- longs itself further W.S.W. to the Peninsula Alaschka and the chain of Aleutian Islands. At the west of Norfolk Sound, a space of 4000 miles in breadth (calculating 60 to each Equatorial degree) extends between the American and the opposite Asiatic shore: interrupted only by the above- mentioned tongue of land of Alaschka. If we compare the lofty forests of Sitcha with the wintry coasts of Kamtschatka, where 4° more southerly, at St. Peter and Paul, the birch only attempts to rise into a kind of tree, we shall here find a confirmation of that law which proves, by comparing the climates of Lisbon and Philadelphia, Paris and Quebec, England and Labrador, Drontheim and Iceland, that coun- tries, situated to the east of the sea, possess a milder tem- perature than those which are placed on the west of the ocean, This theory fully explains the facts. The sea is the great equalizer of temperature: just as the east winds always blow between the tropics, so do the westerly winds predominate in a higher latitude. These confer on the western shores of the continent to which they arrive, wafted over a warm sea, a milder winter; and, on the contrary, a severer one to those which they reach across a cold and
13
snow-covered continent. The sea-breeze, that conveys ‘warmth in winter to the north of Europe, has first, as a land-wind from Greenland, carried cold to the island of Iceland; and the collating of meteorological observations proves indeed that an opposite state of temperature takes place in Iceland and in the north of Europe; so that our colder winters and colder months answer to milder winters . and months in Iceland, and vice versa. But Europe is favoured above all the countries situated under the same degree of latitude. It forms the western border of the con- tinent to which it belongs: the gulf-stream bears into the eastern portion of the Atlantic Ocean a body of waters, warm from tropical latitudes; while the continent of Africa, lying in a position with respect to Europe which in other parts of the world is held by cooling seas, heats the air which thence floats, in the upper regions of the atmosphere, from the Equator towards the Pole. The south winds, those currents of the lower strata of African atmosphere, with their glowing influence, adorn the northern skirts of the Mediterranean with the productions of the Tropics, so that the palms are even seen extending beyond the 43° N. latitude. These are among the most evident, though not perhaps the most decided proofs of the advantages which Europe enjoys as to climate. The sea-winds may not be the sole vehicle for the conveyance of heat with which our northern districts are favoured; for, according to Wahlenberg; the mean temperature of northern Europe is lower than that of the earth. Under the 46? N. iat, an equalization takes place between them; and more northerly the first decreases quicker than the other. In the north of Europe, towards the 71? N.lat, springs and winter-flowing brooks may be seen, the ground does not freeze beneath its covering of snow, and the frost never penetrates into well-protect
cellars. To the north of Behring's Straits, on the contrary, the earth never thaws, nor even at the Polar Circle in Kotzebue’s Sound; it is found everywhere hard. frozen, a few inches below the growth of vegetati oat while under that crust, and below a very thin layer of x the ice may
14
be seen in places having nothing in common with the glaciers - of our own country. The Esquimaux, being unable to break the ground for the purpose of interring their dead in mother earth, lay the bodies flat on the ground, piling drift-wood above them, and placing blocks of stone on the top, to protect them from beasts of prey. The Tschuktschi, on the coast of Asia, burn their dead.
* If we collect, examine, and compare the accounts of the northern line of coast in Asia and America, the descriptions of these arctic regions will be found to agree, in all essential particulars, with what we have ourselves witnessed at Behring's Straits. The ground is everywhere frozen, and beneath the scanty verdure which sometimes clothes the soil, the ice is frequently as hard as a rock." *
** In the belief that a description of a spot which is remark- — able for its botanical productions will prove more interesting — to you than a whole sheetful of promises and assurances of regard, I proceed to conduct you, without farther preface, to Norfolk Sound, a place which is rich in every kind of natural beauty; and I beg leave to accompany you in an excursion from the sea-coast to the summit of the Werstovoi. By this means I hope to succeed in giving you a general idea of the vegetation of the environs of New Archangel. As it was quite low tide when we landed, we were obliged to walk for some distance over the stony spots which, at high water, are covered by the sea. A particular state of Fucus vesiculosus covers the sharp stones with an olive-green, moss-like cover- ing; and by its slipperiness renders walking unpleasant: the singular F. saecatus was also seen here and there, while F. ulvoides and F. punctatus appeared in plenty, like red lobes
* At the mouth of the Lena and Mackenzie Rivers, what may be reckoned as the tertiary formation contains Mammalia of the antedilavian world. In confirmation of this fact, we here only allude to Gmelin (Fi. Sib. Pref.), Adams, Wrangel, Mackenzie, Franklin, Georgi (Beschreib. des Russ. Reiches 9. 1. B. P. 20.), though more authorities might be quoted.
15
woven into the green mat. Where the water stood between some of the stones, we were sure of meeting with the beauti- ful F. floccosus ; and in similar situations F. Larix prevailed, covered with a new species, probably belonging to the sac- catus tribe. F. mammillosus and gigartinus were not rare. On small insulated stones, grows a long intestinal Ulva; but F. asplenioides particularly attracted our attention by its lovely colours; while F. Aerbaceus lay stretched on this red ground, as if ready for the herbarium, displaying its peculiar, lettuce-like, uniform green hue. Nearer the land, you reach the boundary marked by the occasional overflowing of the sea; it is distinguished by a belt of marine plants, from which I only selected F. Lutkeanus (n. sp.), F. costatus, saccharinus, esculentus, and here and there F. edulis. We here leave the district of the sea, and proceed, for a time, along the proper strand. Arenaria peploides, Glaux maritima, some creeping- rooted Carices, and a Juncus which seems to hold the place of our maritimus, are perhaps the first Phanerogamic Plants that occur. A few steps inland, the Veronica serpyllifolia, mingled generally with P. Anagallis, is seen growing close to the ground. This is likewise the habitat of Potentilla anserina and ruthenica; under them occurs, here and there, a very pretty small Sisyrinchium, glittering with beautiful blue flowers. Even at a distance, two Plantagines and a Triglo- chin are distinguishable from the plants already mentioned, by the peculiar hue of their green. Between these, the lovely Dodecatheon generally delights to grow, and in some spots a Pedicularis (asplenifolia?). But the most numerous plants on this strand are certainly an Elymus, that produces a most remarkable spike, and a Bartsia,* with yellow flowers, often growing two feet high. Large individual stones are covered with a particularly beautiful Potentilla; among the crevices of these stones grows a most lovely Campanula, with large blue bells ; while a three-leaved umbelliferous plant, and a Selinum, as it appears (here called Petruschka), delights in similar
* Probably our Castilleja pallida B, wnalaschensis, Linn, II. p. 581. (Ad. v. Chamisso, )
16
situations. . But in the shade of masses of stone, particularly inland, towards the forests, are found two species of Angelica and Heracleum, on which I am unable to decide. Among them the Sarana* and Fritillaria are frequently seen. Pisum maritimum, Cochlearia danica, Ranunculus acris, Galium boreale, Geum intermedium, a Rumex, Turritis hirsuta and glabra, and a Cardamine, are also not uncommon. But I will detain you no longer from the forest, towards which, if you enter into my feelings, you must already have cast many a glance, and along whose border we proceeded with some difficulty, bending under branches of trees and climbing over colossal trunks, which frequently impeded: the path. But farther it was impossible to penetrate; the high tide reaches the gigantic inhabitants of the forest, and we were compelled to proceed along the boarded path which the enter- prising Governor Baranow formed for his own daily walking, and which is in part kept up by his successors. I dare not take you immediately into the thicket, you will be fatigued by the frequent and vain attempt to penetrate through, and thus lose the strength which is requisite for the farther prosecution of our excursion: and this labour would take away all power of enjoyment. Meantime, let us examine a little the general aspect of the Forest. It principally consists of two kinds of Fir: of which the species are not correctly determined. The Russians, who inhabit Sitcha, call one of them the Pine ( Yely or Jelj), the other the Larch (Listwenj), though neither bears the least similarity to the trees which are thus named in Russia. Both are referrible to Michaux's genus Abies. The Pine, as it is called, seems to me analogous to the North American Pine (Pinus balsamea). Both of these trees must be peculiarly eligible for masts, and building-timber, in general, as they attain an immense height; yet the wood of the Pine is not much prized. It is said to be of short dura-
* Lilium Kamtschathense, L, — The state of this plant that occurs at Unalaschka, and which we suppose to be that of America, differs materially from the Kamt- schatkan species, and is probably a peculiar one, Lilium quadrifoliatum of Meyer, in Relig. Hankeane, Fasc. II. p. 126. (Chamisso.)
17
tion; that of the Larch, as it is called, lasts much longer. Besides these trees, a particularly beautiful balsamic-scented Alder, here called the White Alder, grows on the skirts of the forest, with a Crategus, now ornamented with its large flowers, and a Sorbus, of which the fruit is already set. In the underwood, the Rubus odoratus ( R. Nutkanus) abounds, which is seen in our Europæan gardens; but.here it has only white flowers, and produces no fruit. Mimulus guttatus encircles the wood, and is nowhere found in greater luxuriance. Now, we have at length reached the much-wished for path, and you will soon find yourself in the heart of these immense forests, among trees, the grandeur of whose massy trunks you never imagined before. The axe scarcely ever echoed in these woods; indeed, the surrounding wilderness is immense, and strikes the beholder with a feeling of horror. For cen- turies, these trees have never fallen but under the weight of years; and their mouldering remains give rise, without alter- ation of form, to future generations of trees: again to flourish and again to die! Nevertheless, the abundance of shrubs, herbs, and mosses, which clothe these hoary forests, and rise over the natural graves of their former denizens, impart to the scenery an air of vigour and of youth. Beneath the hills thus formed are dangerous hollows, into which the feet sink among the relics of accumulated years, deceitfully covered, as they are, by a new growth of herbs and Cryptogamic plants.
Here are two different species of Claytonia, one with red, the other with white flowers: the latter reminded me of our Cerastium aquaticum. A Maianthemum, with larger inflor- escence than that of our country, abounds here everywhere. Cornus suecica produces such luxuriant blossoms that it might be mistaken for C. florida. ` Pyrola uniflora is plenti- ful, and Dalibarda fragarioides creeps over the decayed stems. A Calla (Dracontium Kamtschaticum), whose spatha rivals that of C. ethiopica, and with zebra-striped foliage, springs up in damp places. The commonest shrub is the large frutescent Azalea; mingled with Rubus spectabilis, glowing with flowers and fruit. Two species of Ribes, one resembling our R. rubrum, and the other R. nigrum, are equally beauti-
VOL, III. c
18
ful. A Sedge, similar to our Carex Buxbaumii, is here a particular ornament to the woods; while a Streptopus holds the place of our Convallaria multiflora, and both the Trientalis and Linnea are as abundant as in the woods of Germany. I observed a Malavis, with green and red flowers, and a. Cymbidium, whose form recalls that of Corallorhiza, with Lathrea Stelleri, were seen in damp spots. A Vaccinium, of which the fruit is daily served up like Bilberries, occurs at almost every step. Suddenly the rushing noise of a river breaks on the ear, and a different scene is opened to view. The copious waters seem to expand before you, as the surges of the wild mountain-current roll through their native forests ; the banks graced with a totally dissimilar vegetation from what has hitherto prevailed, though the larger trees appear to be the same. Here alone is seen the solitary species of Saliz which the environs of Sitcha afford; it resembles acu- minata of Hoffm., yet looks as if distinct. But Aquilegia Canadensis, a new Spiræa, a’ Sonchus, with flesh-coloured flowers, a Doronicum, the beautiful Epilobium, a bulbiferous Poa, like P. bulbosa but two or three feet high, an Elymus, that holds the place of our E. arenarius, and a lovely Luzula, are representatives of plants scarcely before noticed. Here are three or four Sazifrages, a Rumez, similar to R. digynus, and a beautiful Arabis, which grows among naked stones in the river. Epilobium montanum, obscurum, or tetragonum, an Aconite, and some Stellarie, increase the number and variety of species, Various Ferns, which are, however, types of those which prevail with us, grow in great luxuriance. The opposite side of the river wears a similar garb, the wood being the same, only even thicker. But the Panax horridum, which had hitherto been met with only here and there, as a little shrub, soon gives to the country a peculiar character; growing in great luxuriance, and in every respect assuming the form of the tropical Cecropias. It is difficult to wind through the underwood which it sometimes exclusively forms: sometimes it takes the creeping position, at other times it rises like a Palm, and spreads out its broad and umbraculi- orm leaves. It is fortunate that the prickles, although
19
numerous and sharp, are tender, being only attached to the epidermis of the plant; so that when the hand is covered with & good glove, it is easy to grasp it boldly, particularly the older stems. A Sazifraga, perhaps Pennsylvanica, grows on fallen trunks of trees in remarkable luxuriance. At last, by degrees, we reach the foot of the mountain, and commence its ascent; this is truly a work of labour, attended by no small difficulties, which I shall endeavour to describe, and thus aid you to surmount. On the little hills at the base grow Epilobium alpinum, and the smaller bushes already noticed. The constantly wet ground (for it rains here almost through- out the year) adds considerably to the unpleasantness of walking: for it yields under the traveller's feet; and if you- attempt to climb up by the fallen stems, or to support your- self ever so gently upon one of them, the whole of the mossy bark will frequently strip off from it, and betray you into a fall. Besides, the mountain is, in many places, very steep, and the wood almost impenetrably dense. Happy will you here be if you can detect a gulley, in which a current runs down; though the steepness of its declivities frequently obliges you to return. "Though the vegetation is everywhere much alike, yet here the trees become thinner, and the proper region of the Panax commences. We had even descried, when out at sea, these clearer spots in the dark Pine forests, and mistook them for broad-leaved trees. It is true that in such places the lofty stems of an Alder, here called the Red Alder, and destitute of balsamic scent, were seen singly scattered among the surrounding shrubs of Panax. But the wood which now appears again, in increased denseness, before us, consists particularly of a noble Thuja, called, on account of its agreeably scented wood, Duschnik, also Duschnoie derewo (scent-wood). It is the timber most valued here. The tree indeed occurs frequently lower down, at the foot of the mountain, and even to the sea: but so scattered that it is necessary to search for it among the more predominant Pine trees which conceal it from view; but here it constitutes almost the entire timber, and the Pine and Larch are seldom seen: the latter, however, not ceasing quite so soon as the C2
20
former. A Blechnum, which we never noticed before, was not unfrequent in this district; Pyrola secunda appeared, now and then, with a little Lycopodium, and higher up we found a beautiful Convallaria, allied to latifolia, but distinguished by its red flowers. A yellow-flowering Viola occupied large patches of the ground in the now much thinner wood, where we entirely lost sight of the Panax, Rubus, Ribes, with the other shrubs. A few straggling Vaccinia and Azaleas alone remain; and although the eye should fail to detect it, yet the scent would infallibly betray the existence of a Valerian, which grows only at this high elevation. It is allied to our officinalis, or perhaps more properly to V. Phu; yet it may constitute a distinct species. The smell of the root is pungent, and more powerful than that sold in our apothecaries' shops; the Russians call it Koloschenskiai Koronj (Koloschen root), because the aborigines of this country hold it in high repute; employ- ing it in almost every complaint, and ascribing to it wonderful medicinal virtues. On account of the great difficulty which attends the gathering of this plant, it is much prized, and the Kaloschans are very unwilling to barter their whole stock of it. Here we first saw the singular Pyrola * of Eschscholtz, which I had begun to despair of finding: but it was only in bud, a few flowers appearing in some sunny situations, while the former year's fruit might be seen along with the young leaves. The wood is hereabout very thinly scattered: the Thuja is of stinted growth, and a Pinus, very similar to our P. Mughos, appears associated with it. This species, which the people call Tanne (Sosna), is usually of low growth, and may also be found in the less elevated spots, not pong the woods, but growing in turf moors.
* But now again we are come to a difficult place, and we reach the first cross. It is not safe to cling to the plants of Empetrum; a better hold is afforded by the Pyrola, which _ strikes root among high stones. At this increased elevation,
a new vegetation presents itself. The ground is thickly
* Fruticosa, ramosissima, habitu Azalee aut Menziesic.
21
covered with Andromeda tetragona, and another species which I propose to call empetrifolia ; a Menziesia, with green flowers, appears among these, and the stones are clothed with a tufted creeping Saxifrage, similar to S. Sternbergii. In the vicinity of the snow, which here covers large tracts, grow a peculiar Dodecatheon, and a Menyanthes with reniform leaves, which I had observed much larger in the half-dried swamps below. A delightful Aster reminded me of the Amellus of our country; Geum montanum (?), Andromeda poli- folia, Empetrum nigrum, and, hidden among these, Coptis tri- foliata, Azalea procumbens, some alpine Grasses, and vernal Carices ; these complete the picture of this region: a picture, certainly, which is equally characteristic of the summits of many mountains of similar elevation. But ascending yet higher, and coming to the last cross, we shall find a spacious meadow, adorned with a large Anemone, a red-flowered Bartsia, an alpine Ranunculus, aud many of the plants before - enumerated. The shrubby Pine woods have altogether ceased
here; as well as a kind of shrub, which is generally confined
to the tops of mountains, and which I omitted to notice in its
proper place. This species seems to have altogether escaped
the notice of the inhabitants of Sitcha; none, to whom I showed
it, seemed to be acquainted with it. It is an exceedingly
beautiful, thickly growing shrub, not described, at least, in
Sprengel’s Systema, with small obovate es of a same
colour on both sides.
« Thus I have led you, in desc ioi; to the Ps at which all who have hitherto ascended this mountain, pause, and begin to return: but farther on is the naked rocky summit, which I cannot help inviting you to climb with me. To do so, we must certainly descend a considerable way; but among the snow we shall be likely to find some handsome - alpine plants. We slide down, therefore, on the snowy fields, and soon reach the foot of the pyramidal point. It is here extremely difficult to proceed among the perfectly naked stones, which, slipping under one's feet, roll down into the deep abyss below. A single false step, an involuntary trust to the projecting point of a loose stone, and the unwary traveller
22
drops into a chasm, which it makes one tremble only to behold. Here and there, a small Carex peeps from the chinks of the rock ; a graceful Juncus and a Draba may also be seen. But near as a Cerastium may grow, it is dangerous to attempt to cull it. The Achillea, which forms a rather large patch, may be more easily procured. These difficulties being over- - come, you at length reach the summit, perhaps bringing a Pedicularis, a Cerastium, and a new Sazifrage with you; but, once on this elevated spot, where scarcely five individuals can find. a footing, the piercing cold forbids you to look round; besides, a dense fog envelops this region, preventing the possibility of a prospect; and with benumbed hands, which scarcely grasp the few specimens that you have col- lected in the ascent, and trembling feet, you commence a descent, the dangers of which are in reality much greater than those which you encounter in gaining the summit. In returning, we will vary our track, and explore the produc- tions of a swampy moor which lies at the foot of the mountain. Here is a lovely little white-flowered Gentian, and a Carex, which seems identical with C. microglochin, and is the most prevailing plant. This day’s excursion may per- haps produce twenty to twenty-five Reed-Grasses; and a richer collection of larger plants. Among them are Veratrum album, Scirpus multicaulis, Eriophorum Scheuchzeri and gra- cile, Drosera rotundifolia, Vaccinium Oxycoccos, and Vitis-idea, and a species near to V. uliginosum, Ledum palustre, Andromeda latifolia, a large Helonias, a Myrica, Juniperus prostratus, Ar- butus Uva-ursi, Polygonum viviparum; on the margin of the lake, which it is necessary to skirt here, are also found Coma- rum palustre, Potamogeton natans, Nymphea lutea, Montia Jontana, Menyanthes trifoliata, Hippuris vulgaris, Juncus sub- verticillatus, and three different Sanguisorbas, as also some Umbellate. We are now, thanks to Providence, near -the establishment again. Zsopyrum fumarioides grows on the stumps of felled trees. At last, between the houses, you have again Chenopodium album, Urtica dioica, Matricaria Chamo-
milla (its flowers without rays), Sisymbrium Barbarea, Alsine media, and several common weeds.
23
* Now, my dear friend, you have my botanical account of Sitcha: I wish that you may be pleased with it, as I have drawn it up at some cost of time and trouble, in order to prove to you, however inadequately, the gratification that I derive from the remembrance of those happy hours that I was so fortunate as to pass in your company."
. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
OF THE LATE CAPTAIN DUGALD CARMICHAEL, F.L.S. By the Rev, Corin SurrB, Minister of Inverary.
[Concluded from p. 343, vol. 2.)
CaPrAIN CARMICHAEL returned from the Isle of Bourbon to the Cape of Good Hope with his regiment in the year 1814; and the various success with which he pursued his inquiries into the natural history of the Cape and its neighbouring districts, has been already detailed in the preceding pages. In July, 1815, on a requisition being made by the Earl of Moira, then Governor-General of India, for as many troops as could be spared from the Cape of Good Hope, the 72d regiment was selected for that service, and ordered to proceed for the Peninsula. ‘As the call was extremely urgent,” con- tinues Captain Carmichael, ** we were embarked as fast as the vessels could be equipped for us, and each was directed to make the best of her way to Bengal. The Morley transport, carrying the head-quarters of the regiment, and in which I sailed, was the last that cleared Table Bay, and this: mm place on Sunday the 9th July, 1815.
* On the parallel of 38°, on which we ran Bios our iini tude, we found the weather uniformly disagreeable. A hazy atmosphere, the horizon circumscribed by a muddy bank of clouds; strong westerly winds, increasing frequently to furious gales; and showers of sleet or hail, with a high tumultuous sea that knew no interval of tranquillity. Such
24
was the weather we experienced during the first three weeks ofthe voyage. After gazing so long on the blue expanse of the ocean, there is something exhilarating.in the aspect even of the most barren and inaccessible rock; and the sight of the gloomy island of St. Paul, obscured as it was by a thick veil of mist, was yet the more welcome to us, as it was the point from which we were to direct our course for a more genial climate.
* 'Though it was the depth of winter when we made this voyage, and the sky almost constantly overcast, yet the quantity of rain that fell was inconsiderable; we had frequent showers, indeed, but they were neither heavy nor of long continuance. But it is naturally to be expected that the quantity of rain which falls on the sea should bear but a small proportion to that which the sudden variations of temperature, and the inequality and elevation of surface, cause to Roms qua on the solid parts of the globe.
_ * From thetime we left the Cape, until we reached the Island of St. Paul, we were daily surrounded with flocks of ocean- birds, among which I recognized Diomedea exulans, spadicea, and fuliginosa, Procellaria pelagica, gigantea, equinoctialis, and Capensis. The last of these, known by the name of the Cape Pintado, is easily distinguishable from its congeners by the singular variegation of its plumage, and the comparative shortness of its wings.
** What these birds chiefly subsist on, it iiuid be difficult to say; as we could observe no indication in our track of any species of fish likely to serve them as food. They are seen anxiously on the search all day long, never soaring to any height, but skimming close over the surface of the waves. The greediness with which they pick up such offals as happen to float in the wake of ships, is a proof that whatever may be the nature of their ordinary food, its Puppy s is at times - carious.
** One of their articles of temporary resource we had more than once occasion to advert to, the dead carcasses of ceta- ceous animals. We never passed one of these that we did not observe surrounded by myriads of Albatrosses and Petrels,
25
gorging themselves on the putrid carrion. -While the moun- tain of corruption was thus attacked from above, the underside was demolished by shoals of sharks, and other ravenous fishes; and their combined efforts never ceased until the weight of the skeleton overmatched the buoyancy of the flesh, when the mangled remnant sunk to the bottom.
*'DIhese birds feed occasionally on molluscous animals, which was more than once proved, by inspecting their stomachs, wherein I invariably found the beaks and eyes of a species of Sepia. These eyes are of a very singular struc- ture. The crystalline lens, like that of fishes, is of a globular form, but separable into two hemispherical portions, and consists of thick concentric coats of a cartilaginous texture, and beautiful pearly whiteness; the latter the effect, no doubt, of maceration in the bird's stomach.
* From the day we past the 30? degree of latitude, the Petrels and Albatrosses disappeared, and we saw few birds of any description during the rest of the voyage. The Flying- Jish began to appear in latitude 28°, and attended us until we arrived in the Ganges. An error with regard to this fish has crept into Linneus’ System of Nature. After the specific definition of Hxocetus volitans, we meet with the following observation: * By means of its long pectoral fins, it is able
to raise itself out of the water, and suspend itself in the air for a short space, till they become dry, which it does for the purpose of escaping from the jaws of predatory fish; and in its flight it is exposed to the talons of aquatic birds, hovering over the waters to catch it.’ © « [t is not, I am inclined to believe, by means of its. pec- toral fins that the Flying-fish raises itself out of the water, —— but by means of its tail, the only propelling fin with which it, in common with all other fishes, is furnished. The pectoral fins act merely as poises, and during its progress through the water, are disposed close along its sides. In its aerial flight, they sustain it by their mere expansion, in the same manner as we observe many birds, particularly the Albatrosses, fly for a length of time without any motion of their wings. When the Flying-fish shoots out of the water, it carries both
26
its pectoral and ventral fins expanded to their full stretch, but without the slightest perceptible motion; the original impulse enabling it to prolong its flight to the distance of two or three hundred yards. Sometimes it grazes the crest ofa wave, gives two or three strokes with its tail, and flies off again with renewed vigour. Flights of this length are, however, but rarely taken, and but by individuals of full growth; the ordinary flight, when a shoal of them dart up together, seldom exceeding a few yards. With regard to the assertion, that the Flying-fish is exposed to the talons of aquatic birds, I have only to observe, that it is rather unusual with aquatic birds to be furnished with talons; but if there are any so provided, I will venture to say that they are not to be found in the latitudes frequented by the Flying-jish.
* For some days before we made the land, we were warned by a manifest change in the sea, of our approach towards the head of the Bay of Bengal. From the deep indigo-blue of the ocean, it passed imperceptibly into a dark olive-green. Even in Balasore Road, where we lay for a night at anchor, its colour was the same until about an hour before we weighed anchor next morning, for the purpose of crossing the sand- heads, when we observed it suddenly change to that of burnt brick, approaching in a rapid current from Point Palmyras, and before our anchor was up, the whole Bay, as far as we could see, was of the same colour. This phenomenon was caused by freshes in the River Kannaka descending with the ebb-tide, and diffusing themselves over the Bay.
* We were but a few hours under weigh, when we fell in _ with a pilot-schooner, from which a pilot was sent on board
. to take charge of the ship. "There are twelve of these vessels under the orders of the Marine Board in Calcutta, several of which constantly ply off the sand-heads, for the purpose of furnishing ships with pilots to conduct them through the intricate navigation of the Hoogly. They are about 150 tons burden, and each of them is commanded by a branch pilot, having under him two masters, four mates, and as many volunteers. The rate of pilotage from the sea to Calcutta is from 100 rupees for a vessel of nine feet draught, to 600 for
27
ships of 23 feet. Foreign vessels are charged double, and for all ships outward-bound there is an additional charge of one-tenth.
«The Sand-Heads are the termination of five or six diver- ging banks, separated by as many branches of the Hoogly, and forming a submarine Delta, fifty miles in diameter; which is annually enlarged by the spoils of the continent, carried down by that river during the period of its inundation. We sailed in through these banks, along what is termed the Eastern Channel, till we arrived off Saugur Island, where our progress was arrested by the ebb-tide, and we remained for a night at anchor. At this point, the mouth of the river is fifteen miles across, and displays an uniform expanse of muddy water, running at the rate of five miles an hour.
« From the time we passed Saugur, the ship was constantly surrounded with swarms of boats that issued from the creeks and borders of the river, with bread, fish, fruit, eggs (for the most part addled), and a variety of other minor articles. These boats are of a peculiar form, resembling, in some measure, those known on the west-coast of Scotland by the name of Norway skiffs. They consist of a few stout planks of teak, stitched together with the fibres of the cocoa nut; and are plied with a rude sort of oars made of an oval piece of board attached to a shaft of bamboo; the rowers squatted, like so many tailors, on a kind of half deck of loose boards, placed athwart-ships, while the steersman stands on the stern, with a huge oar, which he manages so as to steer and scull the boat at the same time. ‘The whole river is covered with boats of this description, employed in fishing. The nets are stretched across the stream, and suffered to float up and down with the tide, Mine by means of small PESTRE or ee of Bomba :
* Except the awkward fot of diir bonis "n ios : rowing them, I could remark little to discriminate the Ben- galees who ply on the Hoogly from the savages of the South Sea Islands, as depicted by our circumnavigators. The most prominent characters of both are similar ; a finely proportioned figure, agreeable features, a glossy black skin, strong lank
28
hair, cut in the most fantastic fashion, noisy gabble, lively gesticulation, and almost primeval nudity.
* After we passed Diamond Harbour, the scene became more interesting. The tide usually rises from tweiity to twenty-four feet, and the current, during the reflux, runs down at the rate of eight miles an hour. The effect of this prodigious rise and fall, so often repeated, was highly curious. During low-water, the ship floated at the bottom, as it were, of a broad canal, confined by high muddy banks, sloping at an angle of twenty degrees; but at full tide, she was buoyed up above the level of these banks; and we could see the water bursting over them, and inundating the adjacent plains. Over this space were scattered numerous small islands, covered with groves of Mango-trees, and of Palmyra, and Cocoa Palms, shading with their rich foliage the hamlets of the peasantry. The inundated ground bore a crop of rice, the stalk of which growing in proportion as the flood rises, the ear is kept above the surface, and spreads a soft verdure over the plain. . pA ases
* From this rich and delightful scenery, our eyes were often attracted to objects of a very different nature. When a Hindoo lies at the point of death, his relatives carry him to the bank of the river, where they lay him along, and in order to accelerate his departure, stuff his mouth and nostrils with mud. . As soon as he has expired, the body is committed to the stream, where it floats up and down with the tide, until it is either swallowed by an alligator, or runs aground, and becomes a prey to the jackals and vultures. = — .
...* This horrible practice, founded on the principles of the Hindoo religion, renders the passage from Diamond Harbour to Calcutta extremely disgusting to Europzeans, and entirely destroys the pleasure they are so well disposed to enjoy, after a tedious voyage, in surveying the beauties of the surround- ing country. They cannot cast a look upon the passing stream. without being shocked at the sight of numberless human bodies bleached by the sun, buoyed up by their own corruption, and devoured by the carrion crows that perch on them as they float along; and should they glance their
29
eye to the banks, it is only to see the kites, vultures, herons, and pariah dogs, actively engaged in the same work. The shades of night relieve the eye from this revolting spectacle, but these no sooner set in than the howlings of the wolves and jackals assail the ear, and announce their approach to partake of the same horrid banquet. A short residence in the country, however, reconciles Europeans to all these objects; and the water of the Hoogly is esteemed by our seamen next to that of the Thames. The natives them- selves, it is hardly necessary to say, are so indifferent, that I one day saw a Hindoo washing his mouth at a small eddy of the river, where a putrid body lay floating directly under his nose. ks
«The banks of the Hoogly, for five or six miles below Calcutta, are distinguished by the name of the Garden Reach, a name derived, probably, from the Botanic Garden which occupies a great part of that space along the right bank, while the left is adorned with a succession of elegant villas. In sailing up to Calcutta, after passing the Dock-yard, we first come to Fort- William, situated on the left bank of the river. Built on a low alluvial plain, the external appearance of this fortress presents nothing grand or imposing; but on entering within its gates, every one must be struck with the extent, regularity, and beauty of its works. ‘Towards the river, the outworks approach within a hundred yards of the water. The ditch is very broad, and one half of it is regularly filled by the tide. The scarp is double, with an intermediate berme of twenty-five feet, strengthened by an impenetrable hedge of Trophis aspera. The lower scarp is on a level with the plain; the upper elevated so as to command the glacis. Platforms in brick-work are laid all around. the ramparts for 32-pounder guns, on which, including the outworks, a train of 400 pieces of cannon may be mounted. With a view to preserve the beauty of the works, the ramparts are not cut for embrasures, nor are the guns mounted. ` In this climate, artillery, and more especially gun-carriages, exposed to the weather, become speedily unserviceable.» Even the ramparts themselves would soon yield under the com-
30
bined influence of the sun and rain. Add to this, that the command of labour in Calcutta is so great, that, in case of sudden alarm, the whole works will be completed for service in the course of a few hours.
* Fort- William contains an extensive armoury, a cannon foundery, a bazar or market-place, and excellent barracks for 2000 infantry. So far as concerns the Europzean garrison, the duty of the Fort is abundantly easy. The main guard consists of a captain, two subalterns, and sixty privates, who have no other duty to perform but to lounge about the guard- house for twenty-four hours, and pay the customary honours to such general officers as pass near their post in the morning and evening. From seven o’clock in the morning, till five in the afternoon, they pay no compliments, but strip off their uniform, and lie down on couches under the verandah of the guard-house. A guard of a subaltern and thirty privates . mounts over the Vizier Ali, confined in one of the magazines, which has been converted for his sake into a state prison, and where this unlucky chieftain has been incarcerated for the last fifteen years.
* The defence of the gates abd works of the Fort i is en- trusted to the Seapoys, or native troops, a battalion of whom is constantly on duty here, and relieved monthly from the native cantonment at Barrackpore. ‘These Seapoys are most admirable sentinels. The punctuality with which they exe- cute the orders given to them, admits of no relaxation. There is a strict prohibition against the introduction of wine or spirits into the Fort for the use of the troops; and the schemes by which the Europzean soldiers endeavour to evade it are sometimes uncommonly ingenious; but they hardly ever escape the vigilance of the Seapoys; and the number of the punish- ments for this offence is as creditable to the one as it is dis- graceful to the other. Every delinquency of this nature is tried by a garrison court-martial, composed of the officers of the main guard, with two subalterns from the garrison; and the usual award is twenty or thirty days' solitary confinement on bread and water. The system of corporal punishment is fast dying away throughout the army in India. There was but
3l
one instance of it during our stay in Fort- William, and that was in the case of a native artilleryman, who was convicted of desertion, and after receiving his punishment, instantly dismissed the service. If corporal punishment were always, as in this instance, followed by dismissal, it might still have its use in the army, as applicable to cases of inveterate delin- quency, but, as it has hitherto been administered, no man possessed of the ordinary feelings of humanity will regret that it is falling into disuse.
* At the time we arrived in Bengal, the annual inundation of the Ganges was at its highest point, and the waters just beginning to abate. "The weather was extremely sultry, and seldom refreshed by a breeze. Showers of rain, accompanied with lightning, fell almost daily. The ordinary range of the thermometer was from 86? to 90? in the shade, and it rarely sunk more than two or three degrees during the night. _
* The soldiers began very soon to suffer from the diseases of the climate. Bilious fevers, and affections of the liver, degenerating into obstinate dysenteries, carried numbers of them to their graves. "These distempers, virulent under the most favourable circumstances, were aggravated in a tenfold degree by that intemperance in the use of spirituous liquors, which forms the deepest stain on the character of a British soldier. The ration of provisions allowed to the soldier by the India Company is extremely liberal; but the practice of issuing out spirits, as part of it, is attended with the most - ruinous consequences, and causes, I am well convinced, the loss of one-half of the Europzan soldiers that perish in India.
* The recruits sent out to the King's regiments are mostly young lads, who are slightly, if at all, tainted with the vice of drinking. By a general, but most pernicious regulation, these youths are daily plied, during the voyage, with an — allowance of half a pint of ardent spirits, which the greater - number of them reject at first with loathing. But the force - of example, and the ridicule of their more debauched asso-
-ciates, soon conquer their scruples, and they learn in due time to swallow their dram without reluctance. Thus, by the time they arrive in India, they are pretty well prepared.
32
for the unlimited use of that poison, which its extreme cheap- ness in this country enables them to indulge in; and, speedily degenerating into confirmed drunkards, are either prematurely cut off, or become an useless burden on the service.
* [t has been remarked that, notwithstanding the daily issue of spirits to troops on board ship, they are less sickly during the longest voyage than they ever are in quarters. The reason is obvious. In the former case, they are restricted to a moderate allowance, regularly distributed; and were it pos- sible to limit the consumption to the same quantity in quarters, no mischief would accrue from indulging the soldier to that extent; but as matters stand, it is notorious that the gra- tuitous dram acts merely as a stimulus, provoking an irresist- ible thirst that is not to be quenched on this side of brutal intoxication.
** À great number of Palankeens attend pie at the Fort, where they wait, like so many hackney-coaches, for employment, at the rate of a rupee (half a crown) a day. Each palankeen is borne by four bearers, and is usually attended by a fifth, who carries a large umbrella to shade the sunny side of the vehicle. A person may either sit in it or stretch himself at full length, and is carried along in the easiest manner imaginable, at the rate of four or five miles . an hour. Officers, on their arrival from a cold climate, are apt to disdain this mode of conveyance as bordering too near on effeminacy. But whatever may be thought of it in the country, the palankeen is indispensable in Calcutta, where the crowds of foot passengers, hackeries, and beasts of burden, raise such volumes of dust, and obstruct the way in such a manner, that the streets are rendered in a great measure im- passable. The heat is, moreover, so intense, and the air so close and sultry, that a person languishes directly under a profuse perspiration, that renders his clothes as wet as if he had plunged over head and ears in the Hoogly.
* 'The theory of the subdivision of labour may not, perhaps, be quite familiar to the hirelings of Bengal; but I will ven- ture to say, that no class of people have reduced it more systematically to practice. The instant you arrive at Calcutta,
33
you are surrounded by a set of men called Sircars, who show you a profusion of certificates testifying to their honesty, diligence, and so forth. They are a sort of small brokers, who seek to be employed in providing you with clothing, furniture, every thing, in short, that a stranger requires, and knows not where to look for. Among other necessaries, they will provide you with servants, for whose honesty they promise to be responsible; and such as arrive here without friends to receive them, must have recourse to this mode of equipment, though it frequently exposes them to the grossest impositions.
** To consider the number of these fellows that contrive to insinuate themselves into your service, would be laughable, if it were not such a grievous burden on your finances. "They pretend to justify it on the score of their religion. It is against one man's caste to clean your shoes, against another's to brush your coat; the barber who shaves your chin would lose his caste were he to touch the basin in which you wash; and the man who makes your bed confines his services to that office. When I arrived in Fort- William, my Sircar fur- nished me with three servants, and I thought him abundantly liberal, but when I came to settle accounts at the end of the ~ month, I found my domestic establishment was swelled to no less than nine. Every one of the principals had his deputy, and of the deputies several had their assistants. H
“It is hardly possible to guard against the roguery of énoh a crowd of idle people, constantly on the alert to take advan- tage of your carelessness or inexperience: every stray article is sure to disappear; no matter how small its value, they can turn it to account. But the most serious danger is, that your Sircar, or the servant who has charge of your keys and your purse, should prove dishonest. ‘Toaman whose daily expen- diture is less than a penny, a few hundred rupees would be a fortune for life. Such a temptation, therefore, is hardly to be resisted, where the means of escape are so easy; and should he yield to it, and run away, it is ten to one that the Sircar who recommended him will abscond also, and leave you with- out the smallest chance of recovering your property. d
VOL, III. -D
34
« The city of Calcutta stands to the north of Fort-William, leaving a clear esplanade of about a thousand yards. What- ever may have been the case with the territorial possessions, the improvement of the capital, under the Company’s govern- ment, has been rapid beyond example. Within the memory of thousands, still alive, Calcutta was a miserable rush-built Indian village, without commerce or police, At this day it embraces a population of half a million; its harbour, compre- hending the whole course of the river downward, displays the flags of all the nations in the universe; and its native mer- chants, secure in the fruition of their riches, are seen driving along its streets and environs, in London-built carriages, drawn by Arabian horses,
* The English part of the city, called Chouringee, is built in a style of superior elegance, The precautions adopted to obviate the effects of a burning climate have been such as to give scope for the display of a great deal of taste in orna- mental building. The houses are surrounded with verandahs supported by columns of all the ancient orders, and perhaps a few more. Tbe windows are numerous, to admit a free circulation of air, and the excess of light is softened by green Venetian blinds. During the prevalence of the hot winds the doors and windows are shaded with mats, made of the roots of the Kuskus (Andropogon muricatus), which being kept con- stantly wetted, communicate a refreshing coolness and balmy odour to the air in passing through them. To aid this refri- gerating process, the apartments are usually furnished with Punkabs, a gigantic sort of fan, consisting of a frame of wood in the form of a parallelogram, covered with calico, and extending nearly the whole length ofthe room. This machine is suspended from the ceiling, and kept in constant motion
over the heads of the company by an attendant, who pulls a cord attached to its lower edge.
** Calcutta is surrounded by extensive tracts of wooded and marshy ground, which, in the hot season, send forth such swarms of winged insects, that the inhabitants suffer the tor- ments of a plague of Egypt. In the day-time they hardly show themselves, but no sooner are the apartments lighted for
35
the evening, than they pour in in myriads from all quarters, and flying directly towards the light, speedily extinguish it under piles of the dying and the dead. Such as escape with the loss of their wings, drop down, and crawl on the table, or into the dishes and wine-Glasses, leaving it at the option of the party concerned either to swallow them or to fish them out. To guard against this source of annoyance, the candles are usually covered with glass shades, but thus prevented from destroying themselves, these little tormentors fly about the room at random, and you have to guard your mouth, eyes, and bosom, from their intrusion. "Their variety is infinite, but the most offensive of the whole is a small green Cimez, which attaches itself more particularly to your clothes, dif- fusing all round the genuine odour of the bug. "The only one which forbears to annoy you at this period is the Moskito, but it is only to attack you at leisure after you have retired to bed.
* The Botanic Garden is situated on the right bank of the Hoogly, some miles below Calcutta, and occupies an area of five miles in circuit. It was originally established about 30 years ago, and by the unremitted attention of Dr. Roxburgh, who superintended it till within these few years, its catalogue of plants amounts already to four thousand. After his return to Europe it was for some time neglected, but is now placed under the charge of another experienced botanist (Dr. Wal- lich), whose zeal for the science promises to rival that of his predecessor. 'The assemblage of plants from the eastern boundary of Bengal, Silhet, the Garrow and Nepaul Moun- tains, is peculiarly interesting. The Cape plants do not thrive here, nor is it surprising, as no soils can be more oppo- site in their qualities than the rich alluvial loam of Bengal and the hard gravelly clay of Southern Africa. =
“The garden is peculiarly rich in Palms, the constant intercourse between Bengal and the Indian Archipelago having been the means of introducing a great variety of this elegant family of plants. Among others, a fine grove of a rare species, the Sagus Rumphii, presses itself on the
attention. It has been supposed by many persons that the D2
36
first idea of the Gothic column and arch was suggested by the stem and fronds of the Palm. If any thing could confirm in that opinion such as entertain it, it would be the appear- ance of this grove, than which nothing can approach nearer to the finest specimens of that style of architecture. The trees are arranged in regular avenues, crossing each other at right angles, and the height of the stems is so equal, and the arching of the fronds so true, that I could hardly persuade myself that such perfect symmetry could be attained without the assistance ofart. The foliage is so thick overhead, that not a ray of light can penetrate from above, and so completely is vegetation destroyed in the shade, that while walking through it, I fancied myself treading the cold paved floor of a Gothic cathedral. |
* [ also observed in the Garden some fine specimens of the Palmyra or Toddy Palm (Borassus flabelliformis), called in India * Taul or Tala? The Palmyra and the Cocoa (Cocos nucifera) are extensively cultivated throughout Bengal, and both of them are remarkable for the variety of useful purposes to which they are subservient. From both of them is extracted the liquor called Toddy, which is procured by cutting off the flower-stalk, and attaching to the stump of it a bottle, a joint of bamboo, or a calabash, to receive the sap that flows copi- ously from the wound. This sap tastes exactly like the milk of the cocoa-nut, and possesses an aperient virtue which recommends it to the generality of Europæan settlers, but it must be used very soon after it has been collected, otherwise it begins to ferment, and acquires an intoxicating quality. This fermented liquor, subjected to distillation, yields an ardent spirit of the most pernicious kind, known by the name of pariah arrack. "The annual produce of one of these trees is valued at eight or ten rupees. The crust of the Palmyra stem is extremely hard, and split into five or six divisions is used in constructing huts and bungaloes. The leaves resemble those of the Latania, and are used as hand-punkahs or fans; for which purpose the loose extremities are pared off to a cer- tain form, and the border secured by a net-work of wire. These fans are usually painted of a variety of gaudy colours.
37
Separated longitudinally, according to the natural division of the leaf, the segments of it are used by the natives to write on in lieu of paper. They trace the characters with an iron stile, by a series of punctures through the cuticle of the leaf, and render the writing legible by smearing it over with a compo- sition of lamp-black and cocoa-nut oil.
“ There is a singular bird, of the Heron tribe, that fre- quents the environs of Calcutta during the rainy season, the Ardea dubia, I believe, of Linnzus. It stands five feet high. Its bill is eighteen inches long, triangular, tapering to a point, and roughened by the exfoliation of its substance; the eyes small, and of a pale blue colour. Its head and neck are covered with a few straggling black hairs instead of feathers, Its breast, belly, interscapulary region, greater wing-covers, and tertiary quill feathers, are ash-coloured; and its wings, back, and tail, dark blue. Its legs are white, and peculiarly long and slender. But what distinguishes it from all other birds, is a cylindrical membraneous pouch that depends from the base of the neck, while the upper part of it appears like a large puckered wen between the shoulders, It has the power of inflating or contracting this bag at pleasure., In the former state it measures eighteen inches in length, and about four inches in diameter. For what use this grotesque appendage serves the bird I never could learn, It is generally believed to be the crop, in which the bones, that constitute a great . proportion of its food, are macerated. "This opinion, how- ever, I cannot assent to, for though I watched many hundreds of them in the act of swallowing large bones, I never could trace the progress of one to the pouch.
* These birds, which are known by the nickname of Adju- tants, from the peculiar solemnity, perhaps, of their strut, resort in myriads to Fort-William, where the large consump- - tion of beef and mutton yields them a copious supply of their favourite food. Every day at one o'clock, they regularly - take their stand in front of the barracks, and furnish a fund of amusement to the soldiers by their scrambling and quarrelling for the fragments that are tossed among them. The larger beef-bones occasion them some trouble in arranging their
38 parallelism with the bill, but I never saw an instance of any being rejected on account of its size.
“ The voracity of the Adjutant encourages soldiers to play off their wit at times in rather a cruel manner. An instance of this kind occurred lately, when a mutton-bone, charged with gunpowder and a lighted fusee, was tossed among a flock of them, and the unlucky individual, to whose lot it fell, instantly blown to pieces. The perpetrator of this inhuman prank was tried by a court-martial, and deservedly flogged.
“These birds inherit a great share of the dulness and apparent stupidity of their tribe. In the day-time, they stand for hours motionless in the squares of the Fort, some on one leg, some on both, and by way of varying their posture, occa- sionally squat upon their hams, or lie fairly down on their belly. At night, they perch upon the battlements of the Fort, or among the topmost branches of Uvaria longifolia, that shade its squares, where they roost, insensible to the intrusion of a whole legion of Flying Foxes (Vespertilio Vam- pyrus), that resort every evening to these trees to feed upon their fruit. E
“The annual festival in honour of the Hindoo divinity Doorga Pooja, was celebrated in Calcutta on the 9th, 10th, and 11th October. During that period the whole city was in an uproar, and exhibited a spectacle resembling what we read of Venice at the time of'the Carnival: religious processions during the day, and at night the houses of the principal inha- bitants illuminated, and thrown open for the reception of all. well-dressed people. These houses are built in the form of a hollow square, and on occasion ofthe festival the central court is covered over with an awning, and the ground with a car- pet. "Three sides of it are occupied with seats for the com- pany; on the side fronting the entrance is an elevated recess wherein the image of the godess, in a recumbent attitude, is exposed to view, carved in wood, and gorgeous with finery. This recess is hallowed ground, which all may gaze on, but none are permitted to enter. In the céntre of the area stand two or three Natches, or dancing girls, clothed in flowing robes of silk bedaubed with tinsel, who sing and dance in
39
honour of the divinity, accompanied by as many performers
on a musical instrument resembling a guitar. In this music
there is little that is interesting to an Europzan, in the sing-
ing less, and in the dancing nothing at all. These women, with their dark complexion, dishevelled locks, and distorted
attitudes, appear like so many witches in masquerade.
* Kuropzeans are admitted to the Natches, as these fêtes are termed, without scruple; but officers in uniform are received with peculiar distinction, a visit from them being looked upon as a great favour. As soon as they enter, the master of ceremonies ushers them forward to the post of honour, next to Doorga, and after they have sate down
sprinkles them over with áta of roses.
* These festivals are the drain by which the revenue of the opulent Hindoos returns into the general circulation. The household expenditure of these people is extremely moderate, but a single festival will cost from 20,000 rupees to ten times as much, in alms to the poor, donations to the priests, and decorations to a wooden image, which is, after a few days’ parade, tossed unceremoniously into the river. A man may be very religious, and expend profusely from motives of conscience; vanity, or the spirit of emulation, may urge another to equal extravagance. But taking man- kind in the gross, it may safely be assumed that there are few, who, after exerting all their faculties in the accumulation of money, will not feel some reluctance in dissipating it with so little enjoyment, and I question whether this is not the part of their religious duties which the Hindoos perform with the least alacrity, and one, the frequent recurrence of which, would go farthest to shake the principles of their faith. If the Europzans could, by the force of example, lead the © - wealthy Hindoos to enlarge the scale of their personal expen- diture, it would tend to give them a disrelish for the unmean- ing festivals of Doorga Pooja, and pave the way in all pro- bability for a more ceconomical creed.
“ This is a change, however, not likely to be bronght about in a hurry. The prominent talent of the British does not appear to be that of conciliation. We have had large
40
establishments in India for upwards of a century, and our influence extends now over the whole of this immense region; yet that influence, all powerful as it is in political and com- mercial affairs, has not had the slightest effect in approxi- mating the natives to us in a social point of view. The manners, the dress, and the domestic ceconomy, of those even who are in the habit of daily and hourly intercourse with us, are the same as they were the first day we set foot in India. i * Religion has lent her aid to strengthen and perpetuate the difference which originally existed between the manners of the Hindoos and those of their conquerors. With the for- mer, religion is omnipotent, it prescribes their food, their dress, their trade, and every action of their life. With the latter, its mandates too often go for nothing, or, if they pro- duce any effect, it is by their tacit influence on the moral conduct. The Hindoo bears a superstitious veneration for every thing possessed of life: the Briton venerates nothing, but sacrifices all, without distinction, to his appetite or his amusement. The former worships 833 millions of gods, male or female, some with two arms, some with two hundred; the latter, so far as can be gathered from his actions, wor- ships neither god nor goddess. So little influence, unhap- pily, indeed, does religion appear to possess over our conduct, that the more intelligent Hindoos regard us as a nation of enlightened Atheists, and would look upon conformity to our faith as tantamount to the abjuration of all religion. “The military force of the Presidency of Bengal consists of two regiments of light dragoons and six of infantry, King's troops: one regiment of Company's Europzan artil- lery, eight regiments of native cavalry, and thirty of native infantry, each of two battalions of 1000 rank and file. With such a force judiciously managed, the Governor-General had good reason to look for a speedy and successful issue to the war in Nepaul. His anticipations were, however, disap- pointed, and the determined resistance and repulse sustained at the opening of the campaign, made a deep impression on his Lordship's mind. In the first alarm he sent off for
Al
reinforcements far and near, to Java, Ceylon, Mauritius, and the Cape. The successive arrival in the Hoogly of troops from all these stations, was the first and only intimation the Council had of their having been called for, and as the panic was by this time considerably abated, our reception was not quite so cordial as we expected. It was shortly after decided that the greater part of the auxiliaries should be sent back to their respective stations.
* On the 19th of November we were ordered on board a flotilla of small sloops which were to convey us to our trans- ports anchored off Saugur; and I embarked in the head- | quarter ship, the Lucy and Maria. Saugur is the most westerly of a vast series of islands which, under the general name of Sunderbunds, form the base of the gigantic Delta. These islands are covered, for the most part, with impene- trable forests, intermingled with Jungle Grass (Saccharum spontaneum), that grows to the height of 12 or 15 feet, and affords a secure retreat to the wild hogs, deer, and royal - tigers, the joint possessors of this pestilential territory. The latter are so numerous and so bold, that it is dangerous to ` cast anchor near the islands, or to navigate the creeks that separate them. It was no more than a week since two natives were carried off from boats approaching too near the shore, one of MEA was Eve umet fon mcn to Calcutta, = © gr
« We sniled-from figu im 24th Norétahitt; iride: breeze, that soon wafted us beyond the dangers of the Sand. Heads. We had every reason to be satisfied with the ship and the accommodations provided for us on this voyage. In all contracts for the conveyance of troops, the Indian - government stipulates with the master of the ship for mess- - ing the officers. For this purpose the usual tocó is six rupees per day for each officer, four of which are charged — to the Honourable Company, and two to the indivi et 'The Lucy and Maria, I may observe, is the same ship, hei called the Trowbridge, i in which I went from the Cape to Mauritius: She is a stout, teak-built vessel, registered at 715 tons, but, so wide is the difference between the regis- -
42
tered and the real tonnage of some vessels, that Captain
Barclay assured me, his cargo, the last voyage he made to
England, weighed upwards of 1300 tons. It is only mixed
ladings, however, that can be stowed to this amount; a cer-
tain proportion of heavy goods, such as saltpetre, rice, or
sugar, paying a freight of about £15, with light goods, such
as cotton, &c. at 50 cubic feet the ton, and yielding a freight
of £18. He made the last voyage, from Calcutta to the
Thames and back again, in 12 months. Her freight for the
voyage was £20,000, and all expenses of repair, wages, &c.
came to about half that sum. The original cost of building
her was £40,000, and the materials are of so superior a
quality, that she will wear well to the age of fifty years.
All her cables and standing rigging are made of Coire (the
fibres of the cocoa-nut). Ropes fabricated from this mate-
rial, with certain preparations, are reckoned much superior to
those made of hemp. The strands are dipped in a compo-
sition of tar and fish-oil, and deprived of all the superfluous
stuff by means of a machine before they are twisted together. This preparation renders them indestructible either by fresh
or salt water. Coire cables are so buoyant as to float in - water, which saves them from wearing against the bottom in foul ground.
* Our voyage was pleasant, but unreasonably tedious, owing to baffling winds and long protracted calms. Our chief amusement on the passage was the usual one of catch- ing sharks and bonitos. We killed a great number of the former, and among the rest, a blue shark (Squalus glaucus) 10 feet long, with a couple of sucking fishes sticking to its side. On opening its stomach we found nothing in it but two or three small fishes of the genus Tetrodon, and a tin porringer half full of burgou, that had dropped overboard in the morning. The shark is usually surrounded by a group of Pilot-fishes, which play about it in the same man- ner as a flock of small birds are sometimes seen playing round an owl. "The attachment that prompts animals of such opposite natures to associate with each other is gener- ally believed to be reciprocal. It appears to me, however,
A3
to be exclusively confined to one of the parties, the Pilot- Jish, and to be neither more nor less than a parasitical attach- ment, founded on the frequent opportunities it enjoys of picking up the small scraps scattered about by its ravenous associate in the act of devouring its prey.
* The Sucking-fishes (Echeneis Remora) are not so constant in their attendance on the shark as the pilot-fish, but when they do accompany it, I have no doubt they are urged by the same selfish motive. When fatigued with its own exer- tions, the Remora fixes itself on the shark, and is carried along without any further effort than that of sticking fast. The instrument of adhesion is a flat process covering the crown of the head, and surrounded with a fleshy border. It consists of seventeen transverse bony plates, overlapping each other, and divided by a longitudinal septum. When this instrument is to be put to use, the Remora applies the crown of its head to the skin of the shark, then raises the bony plates on their edge, like the plates of a Venetian blind, while the fleshy border adhering firmly prevents any com- munication from without, and thus a vacuum is formed which it requires a strong force to overcome. The outer edge of the plates is rough like a file, to prevent their sliding along the object against which they are applied. "The ordi- nary colour of the Remora is purple, but it possesses the faculty of changing it suddenly from that to pulberhite, This I had an opportunity of rep y « dn two individuals we caught, which I dins dive for a ebole day in a bucket of water.
* In the organization of this singular little. fish, we have to admire the wisdom of nature in the adaptation of means to ends. Why the Remora should be furnished with the means of transporting itself by foreign assistance, is a ques- tion which no one, so far as I know, has attempted. to solve. But having been so furnished, we can easily perceive that the instrument has been placed on the only part of its whole body where it could perform its functions with effect. The Cyclopteri are provided with an apparatus intended for a similar purpose. In them it is situated on the breast, but as
A4.
they adhere to fixed bodies, it might be placed on the head, belly, or side, and still serve the end in view. In the Remora, on the contrary, designed to adhere only to moving bodies, and to be carried along by them, the crown of the head is the only part where the sucker could be placed so as to be used with safety to the animal, If it were placed on the chin, it would impede the action of the gills, and on any central part, such as the breast, belly, or side, the fish could not preserve its parallelism with the moving body without greater exertion and fatigue than the use of the instrument could save, and if it once yielded to the force of the water, the anterior part of the body would bend back, and the spine perhaps would be broken before it could dis- engage itself.” — :
In 1817, one of those circumstances which enable the enterprising officer to distinguish himself, even in times of peace, furnished Captain Carmichael with an opportunity of extending his scientific knowledge. The British Govern- ment having deemed it expedient to take possession of Tristan da Cunha, motives of curiosity led the subject of our memoir to apply for permission to accompany this expe- dition, which embarked in November, 1816. "The detach- ment consisted of about 50 men, with a captain, 2 subalterns, and a medical officer. Captain Carmichael has detailed the result of his observations on the natural history and produc- tions of that remote and little known island, in a paper, pub- lished in the Linnzan Transactions, which procured him considerable attention, being the first distinct account that had been given of the spot in question. His name was accordingly associated with Tristan da Cunha, and he has frequently told me, that his astonishment was not small, when on revi- siting Britain, he found himself enrolled among the Fellows of the Linnzan Society, and styled “ of Tristan da Cunha.”
As Captain Carmichael’s account of Tristan da Cunha is published in a work necessarily of very limited circulation,
45
and as this memoir of his life would be imperfect without some notice of it, some extracts from it shall now follow.
* We sailed from Table Bay on the 2d November, 1816; a liberal supply of agricultural instruments, with a team of labouring oxen, and some cattle for breeding, having been sent on board at the same time. Two days after, we encoun- tered a heavy gale, during which, the animals, standing unsheltered on the deck, were so much injured by the roll- ing of the ship and by the sea washing over them, that they all died before we arrived at our destination, The westerly winds, which usually prevail in the high southern latitudes, protracted our voyage to the 28th November, but we had the good fortune to come to anchor in fine weather, and landed all the stores without loss or damage.
* Tristan da Cunha is situated in 37? 6 S. lat, and in 11° © 44/ W.long. The whole island is apparently a solid mass of rock in the form of a truncated cone, rising abruptly from the sea, and ascending at an angle of 45 degrees to the height of 3,000 feet. This mass is surmounted by a dome 5,000 feet high, on the summit of which is the crater of an old extinguished volcano.
* The island is of a circular form, kad about nine leagues in circumference. In various places the sea beats home against the salient angles of the mountain, rendering it impossible to walk round the island. Between those points a narrow beach has been formed, by the gradual accumula- tion of the fragments of rock daily precipitated from above, and is covered in some few places with a layer of fine black sand resembling gunpowder, which is, however, kept in constant motion, being washed away by one gale, snd cast | up by the next. © . — *'The face of the mountain, as far as ; the ess of the
dome, is mostly covered with brushwood, intermixed with | fern and long grass, which veil its native ruggedness. — In many parts, however, it is completely bare, and presents to view the edges of a vast number of strata, arranged horizon- tally, or at slight degrees of elevation. These strata. are generally 5—10 feet thick, and vary essentially in their i inter-
46
nal structure. ‘The greater number are of solid rock, of a bluish-gray colour and extreme hardness, in some instances homogeneous, in others exhibiting crystals of hornblende, felspar, and olivine, sparingly scattered, or forming more than a moiety of the compound mass. Between these, are frequently interposed beds of scoria, cohering from the effect of partial fusion; of tufa, studded with crystals of augite; or of ashes, condensed by the pressure of the superincumbent mass. The latter, still retaining in a great measure their friable nature, moulder gradually away, and leave the more compact strata in projecting shelves.
The mountain appears to have been rent asunder by some violent convulsion, and the fissures filled up by a hard stony mass, of a bluish or reddish colour, and of the nature of trap, forming regular veins, the ramifications of which can be traced by the eye to a great height in the face of the rock. The sides of these veins, where they come in contact with the rock, are invariably in a semi-vitrified state, and exhibit obscure marks of crystallization. Along the north- west side of the island there runs a belt of low land, about six miles long, varying from a quarter of a mile to a mile in breadth, and presenting to the sea a perpendicular front, from 50 to 300 feet high. The whole of this plain is a con- fused assemblage of stony fragments, scoria, and other vol- canic products, resting on a bed of lava. All these matters | are in a progressive state of disintegration, and the greater part of them reduced to mere nuclei imbedded in their con- stituent elements in the state of a black indurated earth.
* The northern extremity of the plain is, in a great mea- sure, cleared of its wood. By setting fire to the grass, the - trees have been so far scorched as to destroy their vegeta- tion, but they still lie strewed along the ground, and it will cost some labour to remove them. The rest is yet ina state of nature, covered with an impenetrable copse.
* The surface of the plain, though apparently smooth and even, while clothed with its native herbage, is in fact extremely irregular, being everywhere broken by small ridges of loose stones, concealed under a mere scurf of soil.
AG
Between those ridges, however, the soil is pretty deep, and consists for the most part of the remains of decayed vegetables, with here and there a substratum of alluvial earth, approach- ing to the nature of clay. It is soft, spongy, and retentive of moisture, and possesses most of the characters of peat. This soil has been found admirably adapted for the produc- tion of culinary vegetables, but is far too light to support the weight of trees or large shrubs.
* This plain is the onde part of the island that is the least susceptible of cultivation, and serious obstacles oppose the conversion even of this to the purposes of agriculture. With the exception of the few spots already mentioned, where the earth washed down by the rain has accumulated, the whole of the ground, before it will be fit to receive the plough, must undergo a regular trenching in order to remove the scattered stones, and to loosen the hard earth, which lies immediately underneath the surface, and incorporate it with the vegetable mould. After this preliminary operation, there can be no doubt that the soil will yield a fair return in all sorts of Europzean grain.
* The ascent to the peak is practicable i in sundry places, but the undertaking is attended with serious difficulties and not free from danger. I went up on the 4th of January, accompanied by Dr. Evans, a couple of servants, and a guide, who had been there some days before. Weexperienced some obstruction at the outset, in making our way through the long grass (Spartina arundinacea) which grows along the lower part of the mountain in close entangled tufts. As we advanced, our progress was retarded by the extreme steepness of the ascent, and the loose incohesive nature of the rocks, which we could hardly venture to touch, lest their fragments should fall upon our heads, nor did we run less risk in availing ourselves of the branches of the arborescent Phylica to support our weight, for the greater proportion of these being rotten, we were obliged to choose with caution, as a mistake might prove fatal. After a laborious effort of three hours, however, we gained the table land, and there discovered, to our mortification, that the upper region of
48
the mountain was completely obscured. Urged by a strong west wind, the cloud broke from time to time against the sides of the dome, and gaye us a transient view of the peak at a height and distance that were by no means encouraging. After resting, however, for a few minutes, we proceeded across the base of the dome, trusting that the cloud would be dissipated by the meridian sun; nor were we in this respect altogether disappointed. . In the meantime, we found the ground, as we advanced, a perfect swamp, studded with tufts of small rushy plants, that gave way under the slightest pressure. Here also we had to pass through extensive patches of fern (Lomaria robusta), the stems of which, like junks of old cable, trail along the ground, and cross and recross one another in such an intricate manner, that it required all our circumspection to avoid stumbling over them. Further on, the ground becomes more firm, but is perforated in all directions by the various species of Petrel, which resort in myriads to the island during the season of incubation and burrow in the earth. The weaker tribes of these birds are devoured in vast numbers by the Skua Gulls, which pounce upon them as they come out of their holes in the evening, and leave nothing but the bones and feathers to attest the havoc made amongst them. The surface of the dome is furrowed on every side with ravines, which take their rise among the scoria of the peak, deepen as they descend, and open in tremendous chasms on the edge of the precipice. The various portions of the surface thus cut off in a great measure from all mutual communication, grow narrower and narrower as you approach the base of the peak, and dwindle at last into bare ridges of scoria, so sharp and so steep, that the wild goats of the mountain dare hardly venture to tread them. That ridge, in particular, over which we must either have passed, or returned without accomplishing our object, is, for at least 50 yards, not more than 12 inches in diameter. The wind blowing in violent gusts at the time rendered it the more difficult to maintain that strict equilibrium of body, the slightest bias from which, either to one side or the other, would precipitate any of us
49
in an instant to the depth of several hundred feet. We got safely over it, however, though with some trepidation, and in a manner as various, I believe, as the number of our party would admit of.
* A short way beyond this ridge, vegetation ceases; not so much, however, owing to the elevation of the ground, as from the total want of any kind of soil wherein plants may fix their roots. From this point to the summit, a distance of about a mile and a half, the whole is a mass of scoria, frag- ments of cellular lava, and all sorts of volcanic refuse, con- stantly slipping under your feet, and rendering the toil of ascending excessive. For nearly a mile, we walked along a ridge of blue lava, which seems to have been at one time covered over, but afterwards left exposed by the recession of the loose matters which covered it. In grain and colour it resembles the veins which intersect the island mass; but is disposed on the slightest stroke to break into small amor- phous fragments. ^
* The crater is nearly a mile in circumference, its borde is irregular, the south side being 200 or 300 feet higher than the north, by which we ascended. At the bottom of it there is a pool of water about 150 yards in diameter, to which the descent by the north side is gradual and easy. Its depth appears to be inconsiderable, as we could discover the bottom more than half-way across, and its border is covered with rounded fragments of cellular lava, which float about at the humour of the breeze. The water is pure, and untainted with any mineral solution. From the peak we could discern the distant ocean on all sides, over the cloud which still shrouded the lower part of the dome, but no part of the low land can be seen at any time, being covered by the projection of the table land. I found several mosses on the summit of the peak, and some lichens, among others the L. paschalis. There was also a large patch of snow a con- siderable way down its side, and another within the crater.
_ Besides the principal crater, which terminates the peak, there are several others scattered over the declivity of the dome, which must have rested for ages quiescent, as they
VOL. III. E
50
are now covered with verdure. Two of these are situated near the edge of the table land, looking down on the land- ing place.
* As we walked down the mountain on our return, we passed among flocks of albatrosses, engaged in the process of incubation, or tending their young. There are four species of them that breed on the island, none of which hatches more than one egg at a time, the Diomedea spa- dicea, exulans, chlororhynchos, and fuliginosa; the two former are at no trouble in constructing their nest, merely choos- ing a dry spot of ground and giving it a slight concavity to prevent the egg from rolling out of its place. The egg is white, very large, and of a peculiar shape, being uncommonly long in proportion to its diameter, and equally thick, or nearly so, at both ends.
* The Black Albatrosses (D. fuliginosa) are at this season gregarious, building their nests close to each other. In the area of half an acre, I reckoned upwards of an hundred. They are constructed of mud, raised five or six inches, and slightly depressed at the top. At the time we passed, the young birds were not more than half grown, and covered with a whitish down. There was something exceedingly grotesque in the appearance of these birds, standing on their respective hillocks, motionless as so many statues, until we approached close to them, when they set up the strangest clattering with their beaks, and if we touched them, idis on us a deluge of fetid oily fluid from the stomach.
“ The D. chlororhynchos builds its solitary nest in some sheltered corner, selecting, in particular, the small drains that draw the water off the land into the ravines. "There it runs up its nest to the height of 10 or 12 inches, of a cylin- drical form, with a small ditch round the base. A curious circumstance with regard to this bird, is, that when irritated the feathers of its cheeks are separated, so as to display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin, running from the cor- ners of the mouth towards the back of the head.
All of these birds nourish their young by disgorging the contents of their stomach. They are never observed
51
to carry any article of food in their bill; those substances, indeed, from which they derive the chief part of their susten- ance, the blubber of dead whales, seals, and sea-lions, would melt away if caried in the bill to any distance. We could not help admiring the utter unconsciousness of danger dis- played by them at our approach; they never showed the least disposition to move out of our way; even when kicked or pulled off their nests they made not the smallest show of resist- ance, but quietly returned to their post, or stood still until we passed on. "Their plumage is in the finest order, copious, and without the least stain. They find great difficulty in getting on wing, and must run 20 or 30 yards along the ground with expanded wings before they can get fairly under weigh. We had the curiosity to take one of them by the point of its wings and fling it over the rock, yet though it had several hundred feet of clear fall it never recovered itself, but dropped down like a stone. On this account, when not engaged with their young, they usually rest upon the edge of the precipice, from which they can launch at once into the air: and on entering again upon that difficult part of our route, we had to kick up- wards of a dozen of them to the right and left of us before we could get on. We arrived at the cantonment about sunset, after a most fatiguing journey of 14 hours. -
* In viewing the general structure of the island, and com- paring its diminutive size with the great number of spiracles crowning its summit, and which must all have been at one time or another in a state of activity, there can remain little doubt that the whole of it is of igneous origin. "The solid foundation on which it stands is undoubtedly lava. "The plat- form which forms the plain is also a sheet of lava, and though the face of it at one part breaks into prismatic columns, after the manner of basalt, yet the bed of semivitrified rock on which it rests seems to leave no room for doubt with regard to its origin. An entire hill, 700 or 800 feet high, near the - centre of the plain, is composed of nothing but stratified tufa. The plain is encumbered with large detached masses of por- phyritic stone, and with others enclosing crystals of sulphur or of augite, which seem to have been ejected in — present
E2
59
state from the interior of the mountain; and in one instance I met, near the base of the mountain, and under one of its strata, with a specimen of the convoluted lava, so common in the
Pays-brülé of the island of Bourbon.
“The climate of Tristan da Cunha is so mild, that the herbage remains uninjured throughout the year. Snow is never seen on the low land: and the only indication of win- ter is a transient sprinkling of hoar-frost, too slight to give any serious check to vegetation. ‘The thermometer, during summer, rarely ascends beyond 74? in the shade, and stands at about 110? when exposed to the meridian sun. At night it occasionally falls so low as 48? or 50».
* If we may give credit to the information of a man of the name of Currie, who has lived on the island for the last six years, its climate may be regarded as one of the most rainy in the world. According to his account, the months of January, February, and March, are the only period throughout the year in which fair weather may be expected with any degree of certainty. During the other nine months, the rain, he told us, is almost perpetual. How far the latter part of his state- ment may be correct, remains still to be proved; but it was our misfortune to experience the fallacy ofthe first, for from the 28th November, the day on which the detachment landed, to the 30th March, when I quitted the island, it rained, on an average, every second day.-
“ This excessive humidity is not, however, entirely charge- able to the latitude in which the island is situated. Of this we had frequent and tantalizing proofs, for at the very time that the rain poured heaviest down, we could plainly distin- guish from under the skirts of the cloud which hung over us; the distant horizon illuminated by the rays of the sun.
_ * The power which high mountains possess of condensing the moisture of the atmosphere, and precipitating it in the form of rain, is nowhere, indeed, more apparent, or more unremittingly exerted than on this island. The upper region of thé mountain is usually involved in a thick cloud, which not only obscures the whole island, but extends its shade to some distance over the surrounding ocean. From this cloud
53
the rain descends in heavy and protracted showers, for the most part on the lower grounds only, but occasionally on the summit also. In the latter case, its fall is announced by the sudden appearance of torrents of water, pouring in a hundred channels over the edge of the precipice, dashing down from cliff to cliff, and forming a series of cascades, the most mag- nificent, perhaps, on the whole face of the globe.
* With such a moist climate, and such frequent rains, it is a circumstance worthy of remark, that the island is but scantily supplied with running water. The only permanent stream of any magnitude in the whole island, is one which gushes out of the base of the mountain, immediately behind the canton- ment. Excepting this brook, you meet with nothing from one end of the plain to the other but the dry beds of mountain torrents, impetuous, indeed, while they flow, but ceasing with the shower to which they owe their existence. This singular deficiency of springs may perhaps be attributed to the nature of the rocky mass of which the island is formed. Though regularly stratified, the rock is cracked and split in all direc- tions, and the rain, transmitted through the spongy, absorbent soil, penetrates easily into its fissures, and sinks down at once to the level of the sea, where it may be seen along the shore, gushing out through the sand on the reflux of every tide. _
* Notwithstanding the frequency of the rains, the climate appears to be abundantly healthy. Not a symptom of sick- ness appeared among the soldiers during the four months I remained on the island.
*'DThe spot pitched upon for the cantonment is at the northern extremity of the plain, about half a mile from the landing place, and within range of cannon-shot from the anchor- age. It is plentifully supplied with excellent water from the stream already mentioned, which runs close by it, and which even during the hottest days of summer, maintains the low temperature of 50°. This stream, after running its course for about half a mile, precipitates itself in a cascade over the face of the rock into a small sandy cove, where boats can easily put in, to supply shipping with wood and water.
* The prevailing winds off Tristan da Cunha blow from
54
the westward and southward. Strong gales are frequent, but rarely continue above 24 hours. They never blow quite home on the island, but incline upwards at some distance from the shore, and striking against the face of the mountain, are beat back on the low land i in furious whirlwinds.
* The sea immediately round the island is fathidpiablts to the distance of a mile and upwards. The bottom is every- where rocky and covered with a gigantic species of sea-weed (Fucus pyrifer), which, after growing from the depth some- times of 20 fathoms or more, stretches along the surface of the water, and preserves it in some degree smooth and unruffled . during even the highest winds.
“ This is a circumstance of the more importance, as the coast abounds in a variety of excellent fish, which will prove a valuable source of subsistence should the island come to be permanently inhabited. Among these are several species well known at the Cape of Good Hope. The Snook (Scomber serpens), the Horse-mackarel (Scomber Trachurus), the Roman Fish, another species of Scomber, and the Jacobeever (Scorpena capensis), The best fish, however, and fortunately the most abundant, is a Chetodon, I should think, but which is figured by Forster as a New Zealand fish, under the name of Sparus Carponemus. ‘To the genus Sparus it has certainly no affinity, if the form and disposition of the teeth are of any value in forming the character. This fish usually grows to the weight of five or six pounds, and is remarkable for this circumstance, that when pulled up by the hook it discharges from its vent a large quantity of air, that follows it in large bubbles. A large species of Perca is sometimes caught in the deep water. Among the rocks are found an undescribed species of Calli- onymus, and a most beautiful Labrus. I saw one Exocetus exiliens that dropped on board a ship while at anchor, and which measured 18 inches in length. The only shell-fish I observed were a Chiton, a diminutive Cardium, a Patella, and two Buccinums. A large Crawyish is found in abundance, and of good quality: the Sepia octopoda, and an Echinus, with a small land insect, belonging to the old genus Cancer. et species of Corallina are common on the rocks.
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* Two species of the Seal are the only quadrupeds on the island that can be considered as strictly indigenous, the wild goats and hogs having been introduced since its discovery by the Europzeans.
** The Bottle-nosed Seal, or Sea Lion (Phoca leonina). 'The colour of this animal is bluish-gray along the back, approach- ing to white on the belly. It sheds its hair once a year, which falls off in large irregular patches, giving the animal at that season a most ragged and uncouth appearance. The full- grown male measures 20—25 feet in length, and yields 70 gal- lons of oil. The female is considerably smaller; when irri- tated, it has a curious manner of protruding its snout and inflaming the skin over its nose; but there is nothing like the crest with which the head of the animal is adorned in Shaw's Zoology. The whole figure is, in truth, a complete caricature, without the slightest resemblance to the original.
* These animals pass the greater part of their time ashore, never quitting it unless when disturbed, or when, urged by hunger, they repair to the reef to feed on the sea-weed. They may be seen in hundreds lying asleep on the sandy beach, or concealed among the long Spartina grass which borders the sea-shore. These huge animals are so little apprehensive of danger, that they must be kicked or pelted with stones before they make any effort to move out of one’s way. When roused from their slumber, they raise the forepart of their body, open wide their mouth, and display a formidable set of tusks, but never attempt to bite. Should this, however, fail to intimidate the disturbers, they set themselves at length in motion, and make for the water, but still with such delibera- tion, that on an expedition which we once made to the oppo- site side of the island, two of our party were tempted to get astride upon the back of one of them, and rode him fairly into the sea. bee i See I NIME
« The Falkland Island Seal (Phoca australis). This species grows to the length of five or six feet. The fur on the back is dark brown, intermixed with long hairs tipped with white. The throat and breast are cream-coloured, the belly rufous. The vibrissee of the male are white, very long, some of them
56
12 inches, and hang down over its breast. The fore feet are placed near the centre of the body, which enables it to sit erect, in an attitude much resembling that of a Penguin. Though these animals herd occasionally with the sea lions, they are much more shy in their nature, and speedily forsake those parts of the island where they are liable to intrusion. They bark like a dog, and are of a bold, ferocious disposition. _
« The wild hogs secrete themselves in the deepest recesses of the wood, whither it is impossible to pursue them. Their ordinary sustenance is the root of the Wild Celery and the Pelargonium; but they occasionally prowl along the shore, and feed on the carcasses of seals and sea-lions that fall in their way.
* The wild goats have retreated to the highest ridges of the mountain, where they are equally secure from disturbance. From the very small number, however, that has been seen there, it may be inferred that they have not greatly multiplied.
. The only land birds on the island are a species of Thrush (Turdus Guianensis?), a Bunting ( Emberiza Brasiliensis?), and the common Moor-hen (Fulica Chloropus). These birds have spread over the whole island, and are found on the table land as well as on the low ground. The Fulica conceals itself in the wood, where it is occasionally run down by the dogs; the others fly about the cantonment, and are so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught with a hand-net. The latter proved extremely destructive to-our garden, nipping off the young plants as soon as they appeared above ground, but their ordi- nary food is the larvee of certain species of Phalena, and the berries of the Empetrum and Nerteria.
** Of aquatic birds there is great abundance. I have already mentioned four species of Diomedea. There are six species of Procellaria, among which are the P. gigantea, cinerea, and vittata. The last, and the other three, which are smaller, are night birds, never appearing on the wing till after sunset. They may be caught in any number by kindling a fire of wood. Attracted by the light, they flutter round it, like moths round a candle, till at length, the greater part, dazzled by the glare, plunge into the flame and perish. The Larus Cataractes
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is the common tyrant of all the smaller birds, and destroys them in multitudes. There are two species of Sterna, the S. stolida, and one which varies very little from the S. Hirundo. The former builds in trees, and lays a solitary egg. I never saw the nest of the latter. —
* The Crested Penguin (Aptenodytes Chrysocoma) conceals itself among the long grass, and in the bottoms of the ravines where they open upon the shore. Here they assemble in countless multitudes, and keep up a moaning noise which can
be heard at a great distance; and combined with the roar of . the surge, re-echoed from the mountain and the bold inhos- pitable coast around you, is calculated to excite a train of ideas by no means pleasant. It is owing, perhaps, to the scantiness of its plumage, that the Penguin swims heavier than any other bird, no part except the head appearing above water. This gives it undoubtedly a peculiar facility of diving and pursuing its prey under the water; with the same view, perhaps, its eyes appear to be uncommonly sensible to the stimulus of light. In every bird that I had an opportunity of examining, the pupil was contracted to a mere dot.
** There are no reptiles of any kind on the island, and the only insects I observed are three small species of Curculio, four of Phalena, one of Hippobosca, two of Musca, one Tipula, one Spheroma, and one Oniscus. The latter has multiplied astonishingly in the soft vegetable soil, and proved a great nuisance to us, creeping up the roofs of our tents and dropping thence upon our beds during the night. The com- mon window-fly of the Cape was not observed until two months after our arrival; but before I left the island it began to be troublesome.
« The Flora of Tristan da Cunha is as copious, perhaps, as the situation and extent of the island would warrant us to expect; but with the exception of cryptogamous peni it offers nothing of peculiar interest. "
* "The only plant on the island that approaches to ree size of a tree is a species of Phylica. This plant occupies not only the whole of the plain, but has also spread over the face of the mountain, wherever its roots could insinuate themselves into
58
the crevices of the rock. In favourable situations it grows to the height of 20 feet and upwards, measuring from 12-18 inches in diameter. Its trunk is extremely crooked and twisted, but the wood is hard, close-grained, and, according to the report of a ship-carpenter, who examined it, would make excellent timbers for vessels of 60 tons and under. Its bark possesses a slight degree of astringency. Owing to the lightness of the soil, and the frequency of high winds, these trees rarely stand upright, but lean against the ground, and cross each other in such a manner, as to make it a business of extreme difficulty to penetrate to any distance through the wood.
** Besides the Phylica, there are only two shrubby plants on the island, both of which belong to the genus Empetrum, and may be only varieties of one and the same species. "They possess no quality to recommend them, but that they grow on the most barren spots, where nothing else could vegetate.
* Of the herbaceous plants, the most remarkable is a gigan- tic species of Spartina (S. arundinacea). This grass overruns the whole of the island, from the upper edge of the table land down to the sea-shore, accommodating itself to all soils and situations. It springs up in large close tufts, which when full grown, are borne down by their own weight, and lean upon each other in such a manner that a man may roll himself over them without any danger of sinking. Its stems grow to the length of 6 or 7 feet, and are of a solid, almost ligneous, texture, and covered with a profusion of leaves. This grass makes an excellent and durable thatch, and the young leaves are eaten by horses and oxen.
* The Wild Celery grows in nasi over all the low ground, and attains a great size, its stem sometimes measuring upwards of 3 inches in diameter. It possesses in a high degree the flavour of the garden celery, and by proper man- agement might be brought to equal it in every respect.
* A species of Chenopodium (C. tomentosum), of a strong balsamic odour, is common round the cantonment. An infu- sion of the dried leaves of this plant is used as a substitute for tea by the Hottentots sent down in charge of the cattle. The
59
soldiers employ for the same purpose the leaves of the Pelar- gonium, which scarcely yield to the others in strength of odour.
* The low ground is overrun with a species of Acena (A. sarmentosa), a plant of no apparent utility, but an intolerable nuisance to such as have occasion to walk over the ground where it grows. Its fruit is a sort of dur, which on the slightest touch fixes itself on a person's clothes, and falling in an hundred pieces covers him all over with an unseemly crust of prickly seeds, not to be got rid of without infinite labour."
The Alacrity, merchant brig, having arrived with stores and cattle at Tristan da Cunha, Captain Carmichael embraced the opportunity of returning by her to the Cape.
** We left the island,” he continues in his Journal, * on the 31st March, and by the aid of a strong westerly breeze accom- plished the voyage in ten days. It was not till eight days after our arrival that a French brig put into Table Bay, that had touched at Tristan da Cunha ten days before I left it.
* After remaining for about a month at the Cape, I em- barked again on board the Marianne brig, of 180 tons, to return to Europe, having with several other officers of the regiment, been placed on half-pay. We sailed from Table Bay the "th May, and in 14 days ran down to St. Helena. There, however, we were not permitted even to cast anchor, for which we felt the less regret, as the aspect of theisland was not peculiarly inviting, and the Ex-Emperor of France was reported to be inaccessible to strangers. In the short stay we made off the anchorage, we remarked the extreme vigilance with which this important personage was guarded. A ship of war was stationed at every accessible point on the lee-side of the island, and others were cruizing to windward, boarding every vessel that hove in sight, ascertaining her country and destina- tion, and charging her, unless in extreme distress, to steer wide of the island. After taking on board a few casks of water sent us from the Newcastle, we stood on, and on the- morning of the sixth day made the island of Ascension.
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* Having run down to the lee-side of the island, we there found H. M. S. Spey at anchor, and we dropped ours at a — short distance from her. As this island is within a few days’ sail of St. Helena, and directly under its lee, even small boats might navigate with little risk from one to the other. The British government, conceiving it possible that Napoleon might contrive to elude the vigilance of his guard, and effect his escape by some such conveyance, thought it advisable to station a cruizer here, with a view to take him up on his arrival, and to keep off any vessel that might be engaged by his adherents to look out for him and secure his retreat, while, as a further check on such a project, a party of fifty or sixty seamen with
a proportion of officers, is stationed permanently on the island.
* This detachment, though settled here ever since the arrival of Napoleon at St. Helena, is still lodged under can- vas. If we consider the sum of downright bodily suffering, independently of all privations, to which these men are exposed, with only a thin sheet of canvas to ward off the direct rays of a vertical sun, and without a blade of herbage to temper its still more oppressive reflection from a burning volcanie soil, we must say that the necessity ought to be urgent indeed that would justify the exposure of so many valuable lives to such a trial. The tents are pitched on the acclivity of a hill about four miles from the landing place, and close by a small puddle from which with care and industry they contrive to squeeze about 70 gallons of water in 24 hours. On this, the only spot in the whole island where the slightest trace of water has been detected, they have laid out a small plot of garden ground, and strive to rear a few of the more hardy culinary plants; but their labour is rendered nearly fruitless by the rats, which destroy the greater part of them before they come to maturity. These noxious vermin are supposed to have been introduced by an American vessel which was wrecked on the island some years ago, and they have since multiplied at such a rate that 1700 of them are said to have been killed by the party in the course of one month.
They subsist chiefly on the eggs and young of the —
which breed in myriads on the island. —
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* A suite of barracks and store-houses is now erecting close to the landing place; and at an enormous expense, it would appear, for the island itself affords nothing but the stones; the lime and timber are brought from the Cape, where these articles are no bargain, and the carpenters and masons also, at the daily hire of a dollar and a half a head. So destitute, indeed, is this miserable spot of every thing contributing to - human comfort, that the ship stationed here is under the necessity of making a voyage from time to time to the island of Tristan da Cunha for wood and water, a voyage that may be reckoned at an average of six weeks or two months.
** A battery of 14 guns has been erected on a mass of lava that commands the anchorage. Opposite to the latter there is a smooth beach of fine white shell-sand, half a mile long, and flanked by projecting moles of lava. "The border of the island is indented all round with ridges of the same material, which run a short distance into the sea, and break the con- tinuity of the beach. The surface of these ridges consists of broken scorious masses, piled on each other in that sort of confusion of which a person may form a faint idea who has remarked the manner in which ice becomes accumulated when driven by the wind to the lee-side of a lake on the. breaking up of a hard frost.
** The island is about 24 miles in circumference, and appears to be entirely of volcanic origin. Its surface is covered with numberless conical hills, from 200 to 2000 feet high, which were the spiracles of so many subterraneous fires. They are remarkably smooth, and apparently mere accumulations of blood-red scoria and cinders. The central ridge, or peak, estimated at 3000 feet high, is of a greenish hue, indicating a commencement of vegetation; but the low ground and the conical hills are entirely destitute of plants, with the exception of a species of Euphorbia, which I found growing prod in the fissures of the lava close by the shore. "T ri
* In the rainy season vast quantities of pumice are mabed down from the hills, which, pulverized in its progress, is blown about by the wind, and fills the crevices of the lava with an impalpable dust. I have no doubt that this pumice
62 dust would be found of service in polishing metals and marble, and as it is an abundant product of the island, it might be turned to good account.
* The crew of the Spey, as well as the party on the island, are fed during a certain season of the year on turtle. These reptiles come ashore in the night-time to deposite their eggs. A party is sent in quest of them, who turn as many as they want upon their backs, and leave them there without the power of moving, until a boat is sent round to fetch them home. The females alone are thus caught, the male turtles never coming ashore. They are of the species called the Loggerhead, and weigh from 300 to 600 pounds. The epi- dermis of this kind is as thin as parchment, and quite unsuitable for any of the purposes of real tortoise-shell; but I am inclined to think it might be converted to ornamental purposes of various kinds. If smoothed and underlaid with gold or silver foil, it would make elegant book-covers. It might also serve all the purposes for which shagreen is used.
- * The officers of the Spey made us a present of a couple of turtles for sea stock, which weighed about 400 pounds. We killed one of them a few days after we left the island. It made excellent soup, but its flesh, as might be expected, was insufferably coarse. On opening it there were found about 200 perfect eggs, and twice as many half formed, having nothing but the yolk. ‘These eggs do not ripen, it would appear, in regular succession, nor all at once, but in lots con- sisting of a certain number, such, perhaps, as the animal can lay in the course of a night, after which it returns to its own element and enjoys a respite for some time, till the next divi- sion comes to maturity. The eggs of the turtle are about the ordinary size of a hen's egg, but perfectly spherical. The external covering is a white pellicle encrusted with a calca- reous matter that rubs off when the egg is roughly handled. The white never coagulates on boiling, but the yolk becomes hard, and has precisely the taste of pease-pudding. Each egg has a large dimple on it, probably to leave room for the
expansion of its contents while exposed i in the hot "x TE | the evolution of the young.
63
** The longevity of the turtle, under a total abstinence from food, has been frequently remarked. One of ours was brought alive to England, and during a passage of two months, lay on its back upon the quarter-deck without any attention but having a wet swab placed under its head, and a few buckets of salt water dashed over its body every morning.
* We quitted Ascension the 28th May, after remaining there 24 hours, and on the 2d June crossed the line in 23? 10' under the impulse of a fine south-east trade wind, which followed us to about 4' north, where, after an interval of one day's squally weather, we took up the north-east trade. I did not remark while crossing the line, either on this or any of my former voyages, that tremendous roll of the sea, which is said to prevail there, and which is attributed by theoretical phi- losophers to the increased oscillation of the ocean necessarily resulting from the greater diameter of the globe at the equa- tor. Itwould require, indeed, no unusual powers of reasoning to prove, that in those parts of the ocean where the wind blows constantly and invariably from one point of the com- pass, without ever either swelling to a tempest or lulling to a calm, the waves can never rise to any dangerous magnitude. It is only during the calm that immediately follows a gale, or in that part of the sea which lies just beyond the sphere of its action, that this roll is ever remarked. It is, accordingly, in the latitudes of the variable winds, and off the great conti- nental headlands, that it mostly prevails, and in no part of the ocean is it of more frequent occurrence, or more alarming magnitude, than off the southern promontory of Africa.
* We did not see many flying-fish or albicores until we crossed the line, but from thence to 22? north, we were daily surrounded by shoals of both. The former were of two species, the common .Zzocetus volitans and the E. evolans. The latter is larger, much less abundant, and readily distin- guishable during its flight by the purple colour of its pectoral fins. Numbers of both species, darting about in the dusk of- the evening, struck against the rigging and dropped on board, while many more, flying lower, dashed themselves against the sides of the vessel, and fell dead or stunned into the water.
64
As no instance ever occurred of any falling on deck after the night was fairly set in, it may be inferred that they cease flying during the dark, probably because their enemies cease then to pursue them.
* The Albicore (Scomber Thynnus) seemed to weigh from 100 to 200 pounds, We hooked several, but our bonito tackle was too weak to hold them, and they invariably snap- ped either the line or the hook. "The spring they make at their prey would, independently of their mere weight, break any tackle of ordinary strength. They dart four or five yards out of the water, and frequently catch the flying-fish at that height, at other times they follow it as it flies above them, and seize it the instant it drops into the water. From their con- stantly attending the course of the vessel and our never observing any pursuing a different course, I am inclined to believe it was the same shoal that followed us the whole way.
* We no sooner parted company with the Ælbicores, than we fell in with the Gulph-weed, or Sargasso (Fucus natans). This singular plant, which alone enjoys the privilege of rang- _ ing over the ocean at large, forms at times entire patches of more than an acre in extent; at other times, its tufts arrange themselves in parallel lines at the distance of 20 or 30 fathoms asunder, in conformity to the direction of the wind. The weed itself is of a dull orange brown colour, but appears surrounded with a halo, the water seen through the branches, as well as that which immediately surrounds the outline of the tuft, being of a vivid ccerulean blue, strongly contrasted with the dark indigo hue of the sea. The small crabs, also, which nestle among this weed, are surrounded with a similar halo when they swim from one tuft to another.
** On the 8th July we came to anchor in Fayal Roads, and remained there for two days. The morning after our arrival the whole of us went ashore, and waited on the British Con- sul, Mr. Parkin, who, according to the etiquette of the place, introduced us to the Governor, a young military officer from Brazil, and afterwards to the Judge. He then took us to visit the American Consul, Mr. Daubeney, who showed us his house, the best built, by far, and best furnished dwelling in
65
+
the island, with a small garden, neatly laid out, and kept in excellent order. From thence we strolled to a convent of nuns, from whom Mrs, -Robertson purchased a parcel of artificial flowers of ordinary workmanship, and on our coming away had a kiss from the Lady Abbess, a matron-looking woman of fifty, a favour which we could not prevail on her to extend to the rest of the party. From the nunnery we went to the Franciscan monastery, but saw only one friar, the rest being engaged at a funeral procession, He was a lad of 16, habited in a black frock, with a white cord tied round his waist, the instrument of flagellation, but seemingly of too slight a texture to make any serious impression on his skin. Next morning we went, still accompanied by our obliging Cicerone, to view the house of the Spanish Consul, lately deceased, whose widow, a finè woman, and a native of the island, showed us the grounds, and was uncommonly polite and attentive to us. The house stands on an eminence, over- looking the town and bay, and commands an extensive view of the most romantic scenery that can be conceived.
* Fayal, or Villa Orta, contains about 4000 inhabitants, and, though not the residence of the Governor-General, is the largest and most commercial town in the Azores. It consists of one principal street, running parallel with the shore, and faithfully conforming to all its sinuosities. A number of minor streets, or rather lanes, branch from it in all possible angles but the rightone. These streets were originally paved with blocks of lava, which wearing unequally away through time, have left them in a deplorable state of ruggedness. The houses are mostly old and decayed, the walls white-washed, the windows latticed, but rarely glazed, those on the ground- floor iron-grated, and all of them edged with a black funereal border. 'The convents are numerous, and apparently coeval with the first settlement of the island, but now bearing evident marks of that general decadence which impends over the faith that reared them. jt vidc
*'The common people are extremely civil to strangers, invariably saluting them as they pass, and the citizens and friars usually follow the same practice. The peasants go very
VOL, III. F
66
poorly clad, some with straw hats, some with Montero caps of coarse cloth; the cart-drivers with long goads over their shoulders. The women wear long blue mantles, with enor- mous hoods, at the bottom of which you can scarcely discern the human face divine.
' * The island, to a certain height, is cultivated like a gar- den. The fields are small, but regular, and bear crops of wheat and maize, the former ready for the sickle, the latter half grown, and to be reaped in September or October. The lea fields are covered with a crop of yellow lupine, which when it springs to a height of three feet, is ploughed down to serve as manure. The soil is extremely light, and easily laboured.
* The riding cattle are mules and donkeys. Horses are rarely used, being considered dangerous on account of the imperfection of the roads. The carts are drawn by a couple of oxen, yoked by the neck, and having their near horns attached to each other by a thong, a necessary precaution against their injuring passengers in the narrow lanes. These carts are extremely rude and clumsy, the body solid, shaped like a battledore excavated in the fore part to receive the nether end of the oxen. The wheels are of three pieces of solid plank, fashioned like those of the Irish car, the iron binding several inches thick, with the external edge not above an inch thick, admirably adapted for cutting up the lanes into ruts, which they do in no time, to the depth of ten or a dozen inches through the solid lava. In this process of grinding they make a horrible creaking noise, which, when half a dozen carts follow in a string, is heard at a vast distance, sounding like an ill-tuned band playing an Irish lament.
..* All the butcher-meat required for the consumption of the town is slaughtered on Friday, when the citizens must lay in - their stock for the week. Beef and mutton are pretty good at 334. per lb.; poultry good at 6d.; eggs remarkably large at 2d. per dozen; potatoes tolerable at ls. 6d. a bushel; bread execrable, black, and sour; fish plentiful, and in great variety.
* Fayal owes its origin to subterraneous fire, and seems to have suffered some tremendous convulsion, by which whole _ hills and headlands have been overturned. On its summit
67
there is a crater (caldero) four miles in circuit, having a lake at the bottom, round which the Dicksonia arborescens grows in such profusion, that the silky down of its stems is used by the principal inhabitants as stuffing for their mattresses.
* The town exports a great quantity of white wine, of a good quality, selling at from £20 to £25 a pipe. It is made in the adjacent island of Pico, mostly the property of the merchants of Fayal. ‘The peak of Pico is estimated at 1172 toises high. On the summit, which is of difficult ascent, there is an enormous crater, from the centre of which rises a sub- sidiary cone, as if the summit had sunk to a certain depth into the bowels of the mountain, without any cree of its form.
* The population of the island of Fayal is computed at 22,000 souls, an immense multitude for a mere speck of land not above 40 miles in circumference. It is accordingly crowded to redundance, and to all appearance wretched. Sailing along the coast, we could not perceive, in a great tract of cultivated land, a single farm-house, or any building whatever, except here and there a huge monastic pile that seemed to lord it over the circumjacent grounds. "Fo see the dwellings of the peasantry you must traverse the fields, and there, if you look sharp, you will find their wretched hovels thrown up against the corner of the stone pec a cue maples ig for se spon
for human beings.”
Captain Carmichael soon found that the crowded metropolis
of London was not congenial to his retired habits, and he
spent the winter of 1817-18 in Edinburgh; but even there,
the opportunities afforded him of cultivating scientific acquaint- _
ances with less pain to his reserved manners, did not com- pensate for the pleasures of a country life. He felt that cities were rather fitted for the habitation of the inquirer and
deseriber than of the observer, and in 1818 he returned to
Argyleshire, to hold yet more familiar converse with the scenes
of his childhood, and to find OO € F
68
productions which had escaped his early notice. During the years 1818-19 and 1819-20, he resided near Oban, and prin- cipally with that sister to whom allusion has been made already, employing his time in making a fair copy of the journal from which the following extracts are taken, as well as in collecting the Phenogamous plants and Mosses of the neighbouring districts.
In 1820, the farm of Ardtur, situated near Lismore, the place of his birth, was advertised to be let, and, being well calculated for the residence of a naturalist, he rented it. It was there that he turned his inquiries almost exclusively to Acotyledonous plants. Lichens, Fungi, and Alge, in their turn excited his curiosity, and in each of these departments he was fortunate enough to add greatly to the list of Scottish species. If success is ever due to industry, he might claim it. The objects that had few or no charms for others, or were too common to attract their notice, possessed the highest interest for him. Each leaf, each rotten branch, was examined by him. No bank, no tree, was passed over; wliatever the state of the weather might have been, he might still be found pursuing his researches, and it is a cause of happiness to his friends, that when his cold ashes claim no notice, the days on which he thus laboured are bright with the fruits which he gathered.
But the Alge constituted his favourite pursuit. Conveni- ently situated in respect to the sea, the little farm of Ardtur, which he has rendered well known in the “ British Flora,” possesses a shore of about one-third of a mile in extent, which is varied with occasional rocks and small islands, where the tide flows rapidly, but is in general smooth, with a gentle declivity towards the deep. "There is thus a considerable extent of shore left dry by the ebbing of the tide, and a favour- able field opened to the Algeologist. '
- Urged by these local advantages, as well as by the repre- sentations of Dr. Hooker, who gave him the free use of his library, Captain Carmichael applied himself to the study of marine plants with the utmost devotedness. Every day found him watching the receding of the tide, and he continued for several years examining the stations which he had searched
69
times without number before, and that with as much minute- ness as if they had been new to him. There was much that was remarkable in this part of his conduct, and his success shows the difficulty of setting limits to the Flora of any par- ticular country, as well as the impossibility of discerning where botanical discovery may cease. He never wandered beyond | the limits of his little farm.
During his intervals of relaxation from these his favourite pursuits, he might generally be found reading the new pub- lications of the day. Exceedingly silent in company, he dis- liked visiting, and, being unmarried, the hours of his solitude were many, and generally improved. The course of his reading was extensive, and he read with the eye of a critic. He often took a general outline of the plan of the author, and made such observations as show the workings of a philosophic mind.
The following reflections, drawn forth by the remarks of different authors, are so just, and so fully expose the impro- priety of reasoning, with a false love of wisdom, from final causes, that they cannot be too frequently considered. “Itisa mistake to suppose that the glory of God is to be promoted by that puling philosophy at present so much admired, which serves to please and amaze the public at the expense of the feelings of the man of science, whom it disgusts. True reli- gion must always grow with true knowledge, and the pious contemplations of pious men, ascribing final. causes for facts with which they were but partially acquainted, has often brought ridicule on that wisdom which they would exalt, and contempt on the doctrines which they would support. The passage which calls forth these reflections is this:
* < Jetés, says our author, ‘sans defense au milieu des vo- races habitans de la mer, voyageant par troupes nombreuses que des reflets brillans et argentés font distinguer au loin, les poissons volans (Exocetus volitans) eussent sans doute disparu d'entre les étres vivans, si la nature ne leur avait donné, dans. leurs nageoires pectorales, des moyens propres à s'échapper des vagues, et à voler a la surface des eaux dans lesquelles leurs ennemis habituels les poursuivent sans cesse."
70
** The above paragraph sets out with a truism that might as well have been omitted. Constituted in all other respects as it is, there is no denying that the Flying-fish, if deprived of its pectoral fins, must soon cease to exist; but so would every other fish subjected to a similar amputation, By the same rule of reasoning it would not be diffieult to prove that the human race owe their existence to their legs, for if they were docked of their locomotive members, the species must soon be annihilated. But until mankind lose their legs, and the * Ezocetus’ their wings, we may rest assured that both will multiply as fast as the sea and the earth will supply them with food.
* Sound reason has not a more active or insidious foe than this morbid sensibility, which addresses itself to the heart instead of the head, endeavouring to work on our sym- pathy at the expense of our understanding. This is the rock that lies perpetually in the way of sentimental travellers and novelists, and on which they never fail to strike. They select for themselves an individual or a species, a flea, or a flying- fish, or a Welsh Curate, no matter what it is, provided it be sufficiently weak, and can be made sufficiently miserable. They make this a type, clothe it with all the attributes of interest, and overwhelm it with all the cireumstances of love, then cry over their work till their imagination becomes heated, and they see in the whole round of creation nothing but rapine, oppression, and misrule. These enthusiasts never raise their eye from the individual that has thus fixed their attention, or look up to the steady march of nature, in which - partial evil is made subservient to universal good. They are ever sighing after the happy age of gold, when the flying-fish played at hide and seek with the albicore, the wolf slept with the lamb, and the lion ate grass like an ox. But peopleof sober minds, who suffer not their imagination to run away with — their judgment, reasoning on what has been from what actu- ally is, are agreed that such an age never did exist, and never can exist, while the laws remain in force which the PER has imposed on his sublunary works.
* From the astonishing power of reproduction REER inthe
71
smaller tribes of animated.beings, they would in a short space of time overstock the air, the earth, and the waters. It may thence be inferred, that this faculty was bestowed on them with a view to meet the demands of those larger animals of which tbey serve as the natural food. The herring and the pilchard of our own seas, are preyed upon by foes, more numerous, and more formidable than those which pursue the flying-fish within the tropics; yet it has never been remarked that the shoals which annually visit our coasts are falling off in their volume. The boundless wastes of Africa are covered with herds of antelopes, buffaloes, and wild horses. In the woods that skirt those plains, the lion, the tiger, and the panther lurk for their prey. It is to be presumed that they have followed the same system from the period of their creation downwards, yet those regions are to this day as well stocked with graminivorous animals as if lions and tigers had never existed. This consideration, it is to be hoped, will set the hearts of sentimentalists at ease, or assuage, at least, their sympathetic feelings."
The following passage in Darwin's Physiologia also leads him to the further examination of this subject:
* The bitter, narcotic, and acrid juices of plants, are secréted by the glands for the defence of the vegetable against the pee ofa insects rad dvor Mentis Bie ologia. —
- *'[his is mere cuiu. SB mri red cena of the author's assertions, utterly unwarranted by facts. It is an acknowledged axiom that nature does nothing in vain; yet we cannot well imagine her more idly employed than in fur- nishing plants with that dubious sort of armour which rarely contributes to their security, and proves, in numberless in- stances, an incitement to their destruction. In the first place, it may be safely affirmed, that there hardly exists a vegetable, some part of which does not serve as food to some description of animals. But in order to form a correct judgment on this matter, the history and ceconomy of the plant must be studied in the country where it is Ric Men plants are
72
transported into foreign climates, the animals for which they served as food seldom or never follow them. ‘To mention a few among a multitude of examples in disproof of the above position, the leaves of the Calla ZEthiopica, the most acrid of plants, are the favourite food of the Sphynz lineata in its larva state, In Mauritius, the Blatta Americana devours the leaves of the Argemone Mexicana, equally acrid, and more nauseous than the Calla. In the same island the fiery berries of the Capsicum are eaten by the Gracula tristis or Mayana, and greedily devoured by the common poultry. The common Nettle, whose sting is poison, is furnished with numerous and - well known parasites, and I have no doubt, that if the Upas tree itself, of which the learned physiologist has given such a terrific description, were closely examined, it would be found covered with insects. i
“ Such being the fact with regard to the inferior animals, let us see how matters stand with respect to man. Our East Indian commerce furnishes ample proof that the most pungent products of the vegetable kingdom afford no security against depredation; and the unlimited consumption of opium and tobacco is equally conclusive against the infallibility of nar- cotic juices. On the contrary, like the half-reasoning parent of combs, as Johnson calls him, who is destroyed for the sake of his tusks, these vegetables are destroyed in countless mil- lions for the sake of those very juices which were given them, it seems, for their protection. It savours too much of human views of partiality and patronage, to fancy nature conferring privileges on certain plants for the purpose of exempting them from the common lot of the vegetable creation, which is evi- dently intended to serve as food for the higher description of | beings, as these, after their death and decomposition, serve in their turn as food for vegetables. The plants that appear to be the least liable to animal depredation, are certain tribes belonging to the class * Cryptogamia, the Ferns, Lichens; and Mosses; yet none of these, so far as I know, are furnished with deleterious juices."
He is led to carry the same views farther, by a somewhat
73
similar passage in Huber on Bees, which asserts that all the wisdom, ingenuity, and power of the Bee, were given exclu- sively for the benefit of man.
* There is something ludicrous, if it were not a gross im- peachment of divine wisdom, in this sentiment, which has, nevertheless, established itself among us as a standing maxim or article of faith, and pervades all our writings, as wellas our ordinary style of language. Whatsoever we have subdued by fraud, force, or ingenuity, becomes, according to this sweeping canon, our indisputable property, and was made entirely for our use.
** [t was, no doubt, part of the scheme of creation, that man should convert to his use such of the productions of nature as were necessary to his physical existence. So far it may be admitted, they were made for his use. But is he singular in this respect? Is it not a general system of adaptation, which is common to him with every organized being upon earth ? Man draws the greater part of his nourishment from the vegetable kingdom, but so does a vast proportion of the infe- rior animals, while others share with him in the spoil of the animal kingdom. Man appropriates to himself the produce of the industry of certain classes of animals, but does that establish the principle, that those animals were made for his use, and for no other purpose? This we can hardly admit, without the counter admission, that man was made for the use of those animals that derive their nourishment from his car- cass, or from the produce of his industry. Thus the mite, lodged in the crevice of a Cheshire cheese, and the familiar little insect, the emblem of love, that sucks its aliment from human blood, have a right to consider dairy-maids and beggars’ brats as created expressly for their use. A closer study of the ceconomy of nature would go far to cure us of this folly, by opening to our view that system of mutual de- pendence and reciprocation of services established throughout | the whole chain of existence, which is altogether irreconcileable with the gratuitous assumption that every thing was made for us. The word of God, which gives man the rule over the creatures, nowhere says they were created for Aim."
TA
The reserve which characterized Captain Carmichael's man- ners in company disappeared in the society of his intimate friends. His greatest delight was to meet with a person with whom he could converse freely on general topics, and then the range of his knowledge, the acuteness of his observations, and the accuracy of his reasonings, were fully elicited. On these occasions he generally suggested a subject of discussion, taking obvious pleasure in grappling with the intellect of his friend, and ascribing to his reasonings the measure of merit due to them. His favourite topic for conversation was the progress of knowledge and free inquiry.
* In the arts and samda he once said, “in astronomy, chemistry, medicine, the progress of improvement in modern times has been rapidly advancing, but in law, and the otber moral sciences, the impulse has been in the opposite direc- tion. Our ancestors were, on those topics, it seems, wiser than we are, and their mandates are to be propped and pro- tected from the sacrilegious hand of innovation as if they had been the oracles of divine truth. The reason is obvious enough. The former are open to the whole world, nor has any one the power, however it might be his interest, to obstruct their progress; the latter, on the contrary, are strict and inve- terate monopolies, in the possession of powerful and active corporations, who feel deeply interested in guarding them from the most distant approach of change. This is the clog that impedes the wheel of reform, and which, sooner than suffer it to revolve, would see the whole machine of govern- ment torn to pieces."
"With these sentiments, it may cow be supposed that he
was not of that number who look to the future with despon-
dency. A strong regard to general improvement, and hope, which loves to paint a desired object reflecting the sunbeams, made coming ages appear bright to his eye, and in one of these discussions concerning the past, and the influence of science on the future, in which he delighted, he thus elegantly expressed himself: “There is in society a numerous, and, no doubt, well-meaning class of people, who regard the human - race as in a progressive course of degeneration. "These
75
admirers of the past view the march of time through a moral telescope, one end of which points to what has been, the other to what will be. When they look at the former, every thing appears magnified and softened, and surrounded with a bril- liant halo; but when they would scan the latter, instead of turning their instrument, they apply their eye to the opposite extremity, and thus see the field of view contracted, and the objects scattered over it shrunk almost to atoms.”
Hehad pursued his daily search for plants during four years before the writer of this memoir became acquainted with him; yet then, and for several years after, he went to “the ebb,” wading perhaps for hours, sometimes up to the knees, some- times much farther, and few spring-tides passed, in which he was not rewarded with the new or the rare. ‘The day on which he got nothing, he said nothing, and he wished to forget it; but the next day he went forth in hope, as to a field in which fresh laurels might certainly be won.
His disregard to bodily comforts on these occasions proved very prejudicial to his health. Instead of changing his wet clothes upon his return, he sat down to examine his plants. If he found any to be new, he proceeded, while they were yet fresh, to figure them, as he always maintained that the delicate fibres of the Alge were torn in drying, so that they never re-assumed their natural appearance. With clothes all dripping he sat down to this office, which the fastidious- ness of his taste, and his love of correctness, often rendered tedious, and though shivering with cold, he always persisted in his work till it was finished, by which time the water had partially evaporated before a large fire, and he maintained that it was unnecessary to change his dress. Such habits, in a climate not the most favourable, could not fail to affect the constitution of the most robust, and this was eminently the case with that of Captain Carmichael. He did not calculate that while he gratified his botanical ardour, he brought debility and decay on his bodily system; or that he rendered a speedy grave, and shortened opportunity of acquiring knowledge, as certainly the consequence by sitting in damp clothes, as he would have admitted ignorance and uselessness
16
a to be the necessary results of non-exertion. He contended against nature, but she prevailed. His strength sensibly decreased, week after week, till September, 1827, when, without any previous change in his habits, or any illness to indicate the approach of death, it was found that he had not appeared at his usual hour in the morning. There were none in the house but domestics—they entered his room and found him in bed,—but the pillow he rested on was that of eternity; he had gone from the contemplation of nature to the presence of nature's God !
ON THE PLANTS WHICH ARE CALCULATED FOR THE FORMATION OF FENCES IN THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA. By James MACFADYEN, or Jamaica, M.D.
(Read before the Jamaica Society for the Promotion of Agriculture -and other Useful Arts.)
{Communicated by Dr. Macfadyen.]
TuERE is perhaps no part of rural ceconomy, as practised in this country, that appears more defective to the experienced agriculturist, than what relates to the care of our roads and fences. Yet nowhere can these be more requisite, or, were they properly attended to, would prove of greater service. The most promising crops may be irreparably injured in one night by the inroads of cattle, and the loss sustained from stock on badly constructed roads, has been known, on some estates, to exceed two thousand pounds.
It is my intention to confine myself at present to the subject of enclosures, trusting that if there be little novelty, there may be something useful in my remarks. —
In establishing a fence, we have first to select the materials of which it is to be formed; and, secondly, to take care of it- after it has been made.
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Fences are of four kinds, the ditch, the wall, the paling, and the live fence. The three first are unsuitable to this country; the ditch, from its lodging stagnant water, and soon becoming filled up with the soil washed into it by the heavy rains; the wall, from its harbouring vermin; and the paling, from the expense of the first cost, and, in this climate, the
rapidity of its decay. It is the live fence only we shall notice, as being the least expensive, the most durable, and best fulfilling the purposes intended.
There are many plants in this country well adapted for a live fence. In employing such as we have reason to think have never yet been tried for the purpose, we ought always to make choice as the subjects of our experiments, of those which - are most addicted to throw up suckers from the root, and to branch near the bottom of the stem, as it is one of the best qualities of a fence to be thick and bushy near the ground. We have also to take into consideration the character of the climate, some plants being adapted to a dry, and others to a wet one. Hence the enclosures of parishes which are only occasionally visited by showers, ought to differ from those of . districts where the supply of rain is abundant.
1, One of the commonest fences in the country is the Pinguin (Bromelia Pinguin). Its advantages are, that it thrives in almost every climate, that it serves the purpose of a fence almost as soon as planted, and requires very litle labour to keep it in order. On the other hand, it has always a ragged and unsightly appearance, and, unlike the Hawthorn, the Lime, and the Logwood, rather defaces than beautifies the aspect of a cultivated district. It is also a harbourage for one of the most destructive vermin the island is scourged with. Altogether, it ought never to be planted from choice, there being other plants answering the purpose equally well, and being free from its defects. It will, however, in all probability, be always a favourite in this country, the little trouble required in planting and keeping it in order, recommending it to the characteristic indolence of the inhabitants. This plant is cultivated from suckers, which take root readily. In the wet parishes it thrives best -
78
when planted on the top of the bank thrown up in forming the ditch, so that the superabundant moisture drains off readily. In the dry districts, on the contrary, where it is apt to suffer from long continued droughts, it ought to be set in level ground.
2. The Spanish Dagger (Yucca aloifolia), a species very common in this country, has also been cultivated for fences. It is not so unsightly as the Pinguin,but requires time before it fulfils the purpose of a fence, the suckers or heads from which it is planted not acquiring the requisite height till - the end of the first year. Upon the whole, it ought never to be applied to this purpose, being unornamental, and by no means so useful as many others. lt must, at the same time, be confessed, that in the flowering season it is far from ungraceful, its stem being covered with dark spiny leaves, and surmounted: with its snowy thyrse-like inflorescence. |
8. Several Cacti are employed for fences; but more com- monly in the East Indies and. the Windward Islands than with us. This tribe is well adapted for the dry districts, their structure enabling them to be content with a scanty and occasional supply of moisture. Those which are distin- guished by the name of Cerei erecti, as well as some of the Opuntie, are what are most commonly used. They form pretty good fences. We might, however, object to their appearance, as conveying an idea of sterility; and to their being easily cut or broken down. Altogether, they are only admissible where none of the other plants we pro- ceed to enumerate will grow. Like all the succulent family, their propagation is easy, as they take root readily from cuttings or joints; and when the old plant dies and decays, suckers come up. Of these, one (or more if requisite) may be preserved, and planted in the place of the old: one, ae stool of which ought previously to be removed.
4. We now come to a different description of serials in the cultivation and training of which more skill is required on the part of the husbandman. As the same system of management suits them all, we shall dwell more particu- larly on the cultivation of the Lime for the purpose of a
79
fence, our remarks on this head being applicable to all the rest.
The Lime (Citrus Limonia) is a. tree of little elevation, loftier than the Citron, but lower than any of the other indi- viduals of the Orange tribe. In general aspect it is regular, with a yellowish-green leaf, oval-pointed, the length double the breadth. The corolla is delicate, the stamens from 20 to 30 in number, and the pistil lengthened out, or sometimes wanting. ‘The fruit is a berry, small and ovoid, its pericarp or rind thin, yellow, aromatic, interiorly adhering to the pulp. The perisperm is composed of many cavities filled with a whitish aromatic acid pulp. The seeds are small, externally yellowish, internally white.
This is a native of the East, having been unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was first brought, along with the Orange, into. Syria. and the adjacent countries bor- dering on the Mediterranean, by the Arabs, they having become acquainted with it in their conquests in the east. From thence it found its way, during the crusades, into the southern districts of Europe, where it has since continued to flourish. It was probably brought to these islands by the Spaniards, at an early date after their discovery.
The Lime is of rapid growth, forming, if proper care has been taken, a fence in two years and ahalf. It is best raised from seed, sown in the line we wish the fence to. be estab- lished. It prefers a cool and rather moist climate, an soil of loose rich mould. It often succeeds even in | wet soft land, where the logwood fails. The land in which it is to be planted should always undergo some previous preparation, but as this is seldom attended to, the seeds or roots being com- monly placed on a hard, impervious, and, it may chance to be, meagre soil; no attempt having been made to loosen the co- _ hesion of the particles by tillage, or to enrich the ground by — proper manures and composts, it is no wonder if the fence fre- quently comes up straggling and stunted, with. large gaps, and of a sear and sickly aspect. The soil, indeed, in this case, requires as much careful preparation as in any other branch of cultivation. When this is attended to, the roots penetrate
80
the loose mould easily in search of nourishment, and our : plants spring up healthy and vigorous. The same care should be continued during the first three or four years. Weeds are to be cleared away, and the soil loosened occasionally, laying up a few inches of soil about the roots. It will even be advisable to apply occasionally some well digested and fresh soil. With such precautions, we cannot fail in establishing a fence, composed of plants in high and vigorous health. For the first year and a half, or two years, this will be sufficient. About the end of this period, however, we commence pruning; and on the time and man- ner in which this is performed, much of the future beauty and utility of the fence depends. Many commence this pro- cess too early, scarcely giving the plants time to shoot before they begin to curtail them. The consequence is, that the hedge becomes useless, for instead of thickening, as was intended, it gradually fills with shrubs of numerous, but weak and stunted branches, having the same appearance as those plants in pastures which have been subject to be fre- quently cropped by stock. A premature decay is brought on, the repeated removal of the young shoots exhausting the parent, by stimulating it to over exertion. Instead of this, it should be laid down as a rule, that the fence be undisturbed till it has attained the height at which it is to | remain, viz. five or six feet from the ground: when, for the first time, a gentle pruning becomes necessary. We ought to leave the main stem untouched, shortening the side branches, and suffering those near the root to grow long, and gradually tapering up in a wedge-like form. By this means young lateral shoots will spring out and fill up every interstice, till the whole presents in time the appearance of a solid leafy wall. This pyramidal form we ought in our future prunings carefully to preserve. By this means all the branches, those at the bottom as well as the top, will be alike exposed to the sunshine and the rain. Suckers will spring up, branches from the bottom of the stem will spread out and again divide, so that the base of the fence being broad and thick, it will keep out even the smallest kinds of stock.
8l
Whereas, were we, as is usually the custom in this country, to round off the top, we should have the stems near the root naked and bare, with wide intervals, allowing free ingress and egress to all kinds of destructive stock.
When we wish to fill up gaps in a fence of this kind, it is requisite, after preparing the soil, to make a selection of healthy vigorous plants. Previous to putting them in the ground, we ought to cut down those on each side to a short distance from the surface, so that an opportunity may be afforded for the new plants to establish themselves.
When a hedge has been neglected, and allowed to grow up high, it is still capable of being formed into an useful fence. For this purpose, it must be cut down close to the ground, at the same time loosening the soil about the roots. If this be done, numerous shoots will soon make their appearance; which, if pruned into the shape formerly recommended, will shortly form a Dronsifn) and sufficient fence.
5. We now come to the Logwood (Hematorylon Campe- chianum), another excellent material for fence-making. It may be raised from seed or suckers. The plants employed should be at least a year old. Previous to planting, we ought to assort them, separating the weak from the strong, so that plants in different states of size and strength be not placed together, the consequence of which would be, that the hedge would not be uniform in growth, the stronger individuals becoming luxuriant and outgrowing their neigh- bours, which would soon become sickly and die. On the contrary, when the plants are in the same condition of health, and of the same age, as those around them, they go on together keeping pace in their growth. "The system of prun- ing recommended for the Lime applies equally to the Log- wood. It should be allowed to stand untouched till the end of the second year, or till it has attained the height at which it may remain. We are then to trim the lateral branches, leaving - those at the bottom long, and pruning gradually shorter as we approach the top. If treated in this manner, it forms a hedge superior to almost any other, not excepting even the
VOL. III. G .
* 82
Hawthorn, which in appearance it so much resembles, It is unfortunately, however, invariably mismanaged, the Negro who is directed to trim the fence merely shortening the exu- berant branches without any attention to form, the longer ones being partly cut through, and interlaced with the neigh- bouring branches. Hence, while the fence is thick and bushy at the top, where it is least required, it is thin and straggling below.
The Logwood prefers a drier soil than the Lime, so that where the fence passes over a wet piece of land, we ought to introduce the latter to complete the line.
6. The Bontia daphnoides, or Wild Barbadoes Olive, forms a beautiful fence. It is destitute of thorns, and protects solely by the closeness with which its branches grow, pre- senting an almost impenetrable barrier. "5. The Jerusalem Thorn (Parkinsonia aculeata); 8. the Barbadoes Pride; 9. the Mimosa Nilotica, or Gum-Arabie Tree, as it is improperly called; and, 10. the Erythrina Corallodendron or Coral-Tree; (known among cultivators of Cocoa by the name of Madre de Cacao,) have all been employed in fence-making, and demand
the same treatment as the Lime and the Logwood. The two last named are of peculiarly rapid growth. I may here mention, that in the drier districts it would be expedient to give a trial to the common Ebony (Amerimnum Ebenus, W.). It is of rapid growth, and flourishes in river-courses with scarcely a particle of soil, frequently attaining the height of 20 feet. Altogether, it is probable it may prove a substitute for the Cacti and the Pinguin, which deface the vicinity of Kingston.
11. The Bamboo ( Arundo Bambos, L.),* if carefully attended to, is capable of forming a very excellent fence. It should be trimmed with a flat top; suckers as they spring up being carefully removed, and only the lateral shoots allowed to remain. This description of fence has the disadvantage of harbouring vermin, and unless great care be taken,
cadunt
* I might have noticed here the Rosa involucrata, which has been found to
83
strong thick suckers will spring up, and produce ah unsightly appearance. It also exhausts the soil in the neighbourhood, its rapid growth demanding all the moisture and nourish- ment within reach. Hence, not even the hardiest weed can thrive in the vicinity of Bamboos, not so much from any thing deliterious in the shade, but because théy só com- pletely deprive the soil around of moisture and nourishment. Thus, instead of protecting springs, they soon dry them up; the rapidity of their growth, which exceeds that of almost any other plant, speedily draining all the sources of water. *
12. I may, in conclusion, mention a few plants which pro- mise to fulfil the purpose of an ornamental fence. Such is the Justicia picta, or variegated-leaved Justicia. This ought to be trimmed with a level top. The Pomegranate also is peculiarly suitable. I am not aware that the Lawsonia inermis, or Tree Mignonette, has been tried, "There is no doubt, however, of its succeeding. The Cuphea viscosissima, Allamanda cathartica, Gardenia florida, and several others, might be added to this list.
As for the bordering of garden walks, I may merely alltide to the Rosa semperflorens, Euphorbia Pseudo-Ipecacuanha, and the Justicia pectoralis, or Balsam-herb. The Portulaca pilosa, the Sesuvium Portulacastrum, and the Heliotropium curassavicum, have all been tried in the Bath garden,
These few remarks are submitted to the Society, in hopes of directing to this subject the attention of some member possessing greater opportunities of practical observation. It is, indeed, a reproach to our husbandry, that one of the first objects to which attention ought to have been directed, has been in every way so much neglected. Possessed of the best materials for fence-making that any country can boast, we have the worst enclosures; and though two or three years be sufficient to establish even those kinds which are the most tardy in their growth, we prefer going on in our old ed
STEF] dex.
~ Med ce amies eh ceto EE. ing on the young shoots keeping down the growth, NC MAdona! care is required, - G2
84.
method. It is to be hoped that the labours of this Society may not be ineffectual in improving this, as well as other defective branches of our rural ceconomy.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY;
PRINCIPALLY OF THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE PENINSULA.
By Ricuanp Wieut, M.D., &c. &c. [Continued from page 360 of Volume IT)
XXI. AEGICERAS FRAGRANS. Pentanpria Monoeynia. Nat. Ord. MynsINEX.
Cal. 5-partitus, foliolis oblique imbricatis. Corolla hypocrate- riformis. Filamenta inferne connata. Anthere sagittatze, loculis cellulosis. Ovarium polyspermum. Stigma simplex. Theca coriacea, cylindracea, follicularis, monosperma. Semen intra thecam germinans, integumento incompleto calyptriformi. Albumen 0. Embryo erectus. Cotyledones brevissimee. Plumula conspicua.—Arbor parva, littoralis, inter Rhizophoras intra tropicos proveniens, sed usque ad lat. 34° austr. extensa. Folia sparsa, integerrima, pagine superioris excretione salina. Umbellæ terminales. Flores albi, fragrantes. Br.
JEgiceras fragrans. (SuppL. Tas. XXI.)
Æ. fragrans. Kon. in Ann. of Bot. v. 1. p. 129, cum Ie. Br. Prodr. v. 1. p. 534.
JE. majus. Geertn. de Fruct. v. i. p. 916. t. 46. f. 1. Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 1. p. 1185. Roem. et Schult. Syst. Veget. v. 4. p. 511.
Rhizophora corniculata. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 635.
Mangium fruticosum corniculatum. Rumph. Herb. Amb. v. 3. p. 117.
A stout, very ramous, milky shrub, 10 or 12 feet, rarely more, in height. Branches round, glabrous; bark brown;
85
young shoots somewhat 4-angled. Leaves alternate, opposite, or sometimes three together, obovate, obtuse, immarginate, entire, glabrous, coriaceous; speckled beneath with darker coloured spots; both sides perforated with numerous small pores, scarcely visible to the naked eye. Umbels terminal, simple. Flowers pedicelled, numerous, white, on a thick, short, woody peduncle. Calyx 5-parted; segments contorted, membranous on the margins. Corolla hypocrateriform, 5-cleft; segments lanceolate, acute, reflexed, as long as the tube; tube hairy within, a little longer than the calyx. (In the draw- ing the tube is represented somewhat too long.) Stamens 5; Jiiaments firmly united at the base into a tube, externally hairy, and edged with a thick downy ring; free portion of the fila- ments subulate. Anthers oblong, 2-celled, opening longi- tudinally. Pollen lodged in a double series of smaller cells, formed by numerous firm transverse partitions, separated by a common longitudinal one. Pistil: germen superior, cylin- drical; style tapering, the length of the stamens ; stigma simple. Pericarp a curved, rounded, acuminate, smooth, 1-seeded fol- licle, opening on the conyex side. Seed conformed to the follicle; radicle superior, connected with the receptacle by a long flattened thread, (funiculus; integumentum incomple- tum? Br.) cotyledons elongated, vobis ge inverse, conformed to the seed. -
This plant is a native of salt Saray Scull on the banks of rivers near the sea. Several of the mouths of the Cavary which enter the sea in this district afford situations favourable for its production, and in such places it is very abundant, flowering and ripening its fruit during the greater part of the hot season.
Super. Tas. XXI. A.—A branch with flowers and fruit. Fig. 1, Flower cut open and showing the stamens. Fig. 2, Stamen; the anther showing the pollen-cells. Fig. 3, the Pistil. Fig. 4, Fruit from which the theca or follicle is removed; showing the Embryo with its imperfect calyptri- form integument, &c., natural size. The rest of the dissec- tions are slightly magnified.
86 XXIL COMBRETUM HEYNEANUM.
DE Monoernia. Nat. Ord. ComMBRETACER.
Gen. Cuan. Calycis limbus infundibuliformis, 4-lobus, deci- duus. Petala 4, inter lobos calycis inserta. Stam. 8, biseri- alia; ex his 4 petalis opposita altius inserta et longe exserta. Ovarium 2-5-ovulatum. Stylus exsertus acutus. Fructus 4-pteri, I-locul., 1-spermi, indehiscentes. Semen angulatum, pendulum. Cotyledones plica media reflexee cruciato-diva- ricatee.— Frutices arboresve subscandentes. Folia sepius opposita integerrima. Spicee terminales et axillares interdum paniculate. DC.
Combretum Heyneanum; scandens, foliis oppositis ellipticis acutiusculis coriaceis glabris basi in petiolum attenuatis, spicis paniculatis axillaribus terminalibusque folio bre- vioribus, bracteis minutissimis, calyce intus villoso. (Suppt. Tas. XXII.)
C. Heyneanum. Wall. Cat. of E. Ind. Comp. Mus. n. 4001.
C. Coromandelianum. Wight, MSS.
C. laxum. Roxb. Hort. Beng. (non alior.)
Verragay. Tamul.
A large, scandent shrub. Bark pale brownish-coloured, smooth; branches rounded. Leaves opposite, petioled, broad, elliptico-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate, glabrous, entire, slightly decurrent on the petiole, between 4 and 5 inches long, and about 2 broad, of a light shining green colour. Spikes panicled, axillary, usually alternate, but sometimes opposite, occasionally forming a rather large terminal panicle. Flowers small, white, furnished at the base with a bractea, but so small that it is not easily seen, unless closely looked for. Calyx subcampanulate, superior, 4-cleft, hairy within; segments ovate, acute, reflexed. Corolla of 4 small white obovate petals, shorter than the calyx, and inserted in its divisions. Stamens 8,in a double series, those opposite the petals forming the inner series. Filaments very long, filiform, variously bent and widely spreading, their bases hid by the hairs of the calyx.
87
Pistil; germen 4-sided, inferior, sessile, forming a sort of pedicel for the flower. Style one, filiform, shorter than the stamens: stigma blunt. Fruit 4-winged, l-celled, 1-seeded ; wings spreading, purple. Seed 4-sided, pendulous.
This is a common plant, found all over the country, in strag- gling solitary bushes. From my own knowledge, I can state its habitat as extending from near Cape Comorin to the middle of the Northern Circars; how much further I know not. It is to be met with in flower and fruit the greater part of the year, but in most perfection during the cool season.
Surry. Tam. XXII. Fig. 1, Bud with its bractea, and Fig. 2, Front view of a flower:—magnified. Fig. 3, Section of a capsule :—wnatural size.
XXIII, XXIV. VALLISNERIA SPIRALIS. Diccra Dranpria. Nat. Ord. HypnocHARIDEX.
Gen. Cuar. Flores dioici.—Masc. Spadin conicus undique tectus flosculis; spatha inclusus. Perianthium 3-partitum. Stam, 2,—Fem, Spatha monophylla, uniflora, Perian- thium 3-6-partitum. Stigmata 3, bifida, extus quandoque appendiculata, Bacca unilocularis, eplindrasea, polys- perma. Semina parietalia. Br. .
Vallisneria spiralis; scapo foemineo spirali, foliis natantibus linearibus obtusis apice serrulatis. Br. (SuppL. Tan. XXIII, XXIV.)
V. spiralis. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1441. Willd, Sp. Pl.v.4. p. 650, Br. Prodr, FI. Nov, Holl. v. 1. p.345. Spreng. Syst. Veget. v3. p. 900,
V. spiraloides. Roxb. Hort. Beng. p. "11.
Vallisnerioides palustre, &c. qum Gen. p. 3. t. W,
Ambul. Tamul.
Leaves radical, linear,obtuse, serrulate on the margin, about 3-nerved, varying in length according to the depth of water in which the plant grows, from 8-4 inches to more than a foot.
Mare: Scapes axillary, one or two inchés long, cylindrical.
88
Spatha ovate, compressed, 2-leaved ; the leaves united at their margins, and bursting at the apex. Spadiz somewhat shorter than the spatha, conical, covered on all sides with innumerable shortly pedicelled, very small flowers. Calyx petaloid, 4-parted ; segments somewhat unequal, obtuse, reflexed, thus forming a little float to keep the two short diverging stamens above water after the flowers are separated from the parent plant. Stigmas obtuse; pollen consisting of small transparent globules.
FEMALE: Scape spiral, capillary, of considerable length. Spatha tubular, 2-cleft at the apex, nearly as long as the spadix. Calyx 3-cleft; divisions short, obtuse, triangular. Corolla none. Stamens 3, sterile, inserted on the spadix, alternate with the segments of the calyx, very small. Style none. Stigmas 3, spreading, petal-like, hairy on their upper surface, and 3-cleft. Capsule (a berry, Br.,) cylindrical, 2-4 inches in length, including many parietal seeds.
In small water-tanks throughout India: to be found, perhaps, all the year, but principally during the rainy and cool season. It is marked as annual by Roxburgh; but this is perhaps an error. It extends itself rapidly by runners from the roots.
- (Dr. Wight is, no doubt, correct in referring this to the V. spiraloides of Roxburgh; but on comparing the plant with the V. spiralis of Europe, it appears to be identical with it, and to haye a very extended range, being found also in New Holland and in North America.—2H. 7
Suprt. Tas. XXII. Male plant. Fig. 1, Extremity of a leaf. Fig. 2, Flower-bud, taken from the spatha. Fig. T Flower :—magnijied.
SurPrL. Tas. XXIV. Female plant. Fig. 1, Upper Wero E
of a flower, with part of the spatha. Fig. 2, Section of the germen, showing the arrangement of the uten We
XXV. PLADERA VIRGATA.
— 'TETRANDRIA Monoeynia. Nat. Ord. GENTIANEA. Cal. elongatus, 4-dentatus. Cor. infundibuliformis, limbo
89
irregulari. Stamen unicum reliquis minus. Stigma bilobum. Capsula supera, 1-locularis, 2-valvis. Semina numerosa. Pladera virgata; annua erecta tetragona, ramis oppositis alternisque, foliis inferioribus lanceolato-spathulatis 3-ner- viis reliquis cordatis acutis, floribus terminalibus panicu-
latis. (SuppL. Tas. XXV.) P. virgata. Roxb. Fl. Ind. v. 1. p. 417. Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. 1. p. A81. Cham. et Schlecht. in Linnea, v. 1. p. 198. Exacum diffusum. Wild. Sp. Pl. v. 1. p. 637. Gentiana diffusa. Vahl, Symb. 3. p. 4t. Canscora diffusa. Br. Prodr. v. 1. p. 451. Centhera. Tamu.
Annual. Stems erect, ramous, 4-sided, angles sharp; branches axillary, at the base opposite, slender, ascending, dividing into alternate branchlets, in this resembling the upper part of the main stem, each branch of which repeatedly divides into two, until they finally terminate in three or five flowers. Leaves opposite, below spathulato-lanceolate, rather obtuse, above very broad, cordato-ovate, or nearly orbicular, sessile, somewhat amplexicaul, glabrous, thin, entire, very sharp- pointed. Flowers pale lilac-coloured, terminal. Calyx tubular, 4-cleft, segments acute, 3-nerved. Corolla funnel- shaped; tube the length of the calyx; limb 3-cleft, segments nearly equal, obtuse, spreading, one of them a little larger, with a deep cleft or plait in the middle, for the reception of the larger stamen. Stamens 4; filaments attached near the top of the tube, three of them short, bearing yellow anthers, the fourth much larger, with a deep orange-coloured anther, which becomes erect when about to shed its pollen, having been previously lodged in the groove of the corolla. Pistil: germen cylindrical, about half the length of the tube of the corolla; style filiform; stigma 2-cleft, its segments revolute, flattened, downy all over. Capsule cylindrical, within the withered corolla, 1-celled, 2-valved. If wounded before it is quite ripe, a quantity of milky juice exudes. Seeds very numerous, attached to the margins of the valves. _
A native of wet soil; found near tanks, and on the banks of
90
water-courses. The specimen figured was gathered near Negapatam in February.
SurPL. Tas. XXV. Fig. 1, Flower. Fig, 2, Flower laid open to show the pistil :—magnified.
XXVI. PTEROSPERMUM SUBERIFOLIUM, Monave.puia Potyanpria. Nat, Ord. Byrrneriacez.
Cal. 5-partitus, basi subtubulosus, nudus involueratusve. Pet. 5. Stam. 20, quorum 5 sterilia. Stylus cylindraceus. Stigma crassiusculum. Capsula lignosa, 5-loc., 5-valvis. Semina in alam producta, albumine parco aut nullo. DC.
Pterospermum suberifolium; foliis obovato-cuneatis apice irregulariter subtrilobis lobo medio acuminato subtus canescentibus, pedunculis axillaribus 1—3-floris, petalis - lanceolatis, involucro nullo. (Surrr. Tas. XXVI.) :
P. suberifolium. Wild. Sp. Pl. v. 3. p. 728. (non Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 1526. nec Roxb. MSS. Cat.) De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 500. Wall. Cat. Mus. E. I. C. n. 1166.
P. canescens. Roxb. MSS. Cat. cum Ic.
Pentapetes suberifolia. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 959. Cav. Diss. 3. p. 130. t. 43. f. 2.
Pterospermadendrum suberis &c. ** Ammann Act. Petrop. 8. p. 215. t. 14."
A considerable £ree, with rough bark and ramous slightly spreading heads. Branches round, dark brown, the young shoots at first covered with white powdery down, after- wards becoming of a rusty brown colour, Leaves alternate, on short rust-coloured petioles, coriaceous, strongly nerved, smooth, bright green above, white beneath, somewhat unequal at the base, and unequally 3-lobed at the apex; the middle lobe larger, acuminate. Peduncles axillary, or sometimes from a little above the axil, short, rust-coloured, from 1 to 5-flow- ered. Flowers white. Calyx deeply 5-cleft, tubular at the base; segments linear, acute, externally of a rusty brown, green within, 5-angled before expansion. Petals ovato-lanceolate,
91
obtuse, white, shorter than the calyx. Stamens 20: filaments united at the base; the five sterile ones larger than the rest, hairy. Anthers erect, subulate. Pistil: germen superior, shortly pedicelled. Style the length of the stamens. Stigma thickened, villous, Capsule pedicelled, egg-shaped, covered with white powdery down, 5-valved, 5-celled: partitions from the middle of the valves. Cells 4-seeded, two to each parti- tion. Seeds compressed, terminating in a long obtuse wing.
This tree is, I believe, rather rare: those individuals from which the preceding description was made, are, I believe, the only ones I have met with in their native habitat. They grow in sandy soil, about five miles from the sea-coast. The trunk is short, about two feet in circumference; the branches ascending, but pendulous towards their extremities. When I first saw them in October, they were loaded with fruit, but not a single flower could be found. The drawing was taken in May, and the fruit attached to the specimen is the production of the preceding year. It is used as timber by the carpenters, but I am ignorant of the quality of the wood.
(To Ammann’s figure I have not an opportunity of referring ; but that of Cavanilles entirely accords with our plant. Dr. Roxburgh has fallen into an error in calling this plant Pter- ospermum canescens, and in taking for the true suberifolium a very different species; the same, indeed, as is figured, and under the same name, in Bot. Mag. t. 1526, having leaves and flowers twice or thrice the size of our plant, and a 3- leaved involucre surrounding the calyx.—H.] ;
SuPPL. Tas. XXVI. Fig. 1, Stamens and pistil, Fig. 2, Seed :—natural size.
XXVI UTRICULARIA STELLARIS. o Dianpria Monoeynia. Nat. Ord. LeNTIBULARUE. .—
Cal. diphyllus, labiis eequalibus indivisis. Corolla personata labio inferiore basi calcarata. Stamina 2, do" apice intus antheriferis. Stigma bilabiatum. = =
Utricularia stellaris; foliis radicalibus compositis laciniis
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setaceis utriculiferis, scapi utriculis verticillatis barbatis,
calcare obtuso labio breviore. (SurPr. Tas. XXVII.) U. stellaris. Linn. Suppl. p. 86. Vahl, Enum. v. 1. p. 19.
Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 1. p. 113. (excl. syn. U. inflexe Forsk.)
Roxb. Corom. v. 2. t. 180. FI. Ind. v. 1. p. 143. Hoem. et
Schult. v. 1. p. 194. Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. 1. p. 62.
Radical shoots, between three and four feet long, ramous, subimmersed. Leaves in whorls of four or five, cut into numerous forked filiform segments, appearing hairy under the lens, each bearing close to the fork a firm, cartilaginous, trans- parent, obovate bladder. The scape springs from the axil ofa branch, and rises to the surface of the water, in which situa- tion it is retained by six or eight ovate, oblong, sessile, cellular bearded bladders, attached to about its middle. "These have been called bractee, but, in my opinion, erroneously, as the flowers are furnished, besides, with scales or bractee, at the base of each pedicel, as in the other species of this genus. They ought, therefore, rather to be considered supports (fulcra) or floats, than bracteas. Pedicel compressed, at first erect, afterwards drooping. Calyx of two ovate, acute leaves. Corolla ringent. Spur blunt, not much shorter than the under lip, bent forwards in the hollow of one of the calyx-leaves. Stamens 2, shorter than the style; anthers incurved, approxi- mating. Style erect. Stigma peltate, hairy, the anterior edge . hooked over, and embracing the anthers. Capsule globular, I-celled. Seeds numerous, attached on all sides by a large globular receptacle.
This pretty little plant is found floating near the surface of tanks and standing water, in most parts of India; above which, during the cool and rainy seasons, it elevates the small clusters of yellow flowers which mark its presence. This species differs greatly in the form of the stigma from the other individuals of the genus, two of which now before me have a funnel-shaped stigma, with a portion of the edge dilated, forming a little lip or tongue, which laps over the anthers, apparently to catch the pollen. | SurrL. Tas. XXVII. Fig. 1, Flower. Fig. 2, Section of
young fruit :—magnifted. j
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- XXVIIL- BERGIA AMMANNIODIES. Var. TRIANDRA.