TEGETATION OF DIEGO GAECIA. 335 



nium cequahile^ Mr. Bourne sought in vain ; cousequeutly some 

 doubts arise concerning the home of the original specimen sent 

 bj Ladj Barkly; but if it exist in Diego Garcia, it must bo ex- 

 ceedingly scarce. As to the gigantic treesofFindlay's 'Directory' 



Mr 



"The inhabitants knew nothing of any 

 such trees, and pointed out Pisonia as being the largest tree on 



the island. That same Directory makes several remarkable and 



untrue statements about tbe island, among which must be classed 

 the gigantic trees," 



Without accepting the enormous dimensions recorded in Find- 

 lay, I think there is a probability that the statement as to the 

 former existence of large trees was based upon facts ; and ^'Bois 



Map 



Maur 



ferent islands 6f the Indian Ocean. At the present day, according 

 to Mr. BournCj Pisonia tnermis, the largest tree in tlie island, 

 bears the name of Bois Mapou in Diego Garcia; and on the 

 authority of Dr. Balfour ('Botany of Eodriguez,' p. 64), the 

 endemic Pisonia viscosa is known by the same name in Kodri- 

 guez. 



Going farther back, it appears from Bojer ('Hortus Mauri- 

 tianus,' p. 265), that this name was applied to Pisonia macro- 

 phyJla in the island of Galega, and to Cissus Mappia in Mauritius 

 itself, where it has given the name to a district; while in Mail- 

 lard's ' Notes sur I'lle de la Eeunion,' 2™*= ed. i. p. 145, it is 

 stated that Monimia rotundifolia is the Mapou of Bourbon 

 Island. What the meaning of the word " Mapou " may be is 

 not evident ; but as it is employed to designate such very differ- 

 ent trees as those named, it may T-vell have included another in 

 former times. 



It is very probable, however, that the statement in Findlay's 

 Directory is a jumble of fact and fiction, and all that we can 

 accept of it is that there were formerly clumps of large trees all 

 over the island. Mr. Thiselton Dyer suggests that the big tree 

 of earlier times was the "Gayac" (Afzelia Jywya), basing his 

 opinion on a passage in an unpublished report on the timber 

 trees of the Seychelles by Mr. C. Button, Crown Conservator of 

 Forests, Seychelles. He says : — " This tree, already very scarce, 

 acquires gigantic proportions, more especially in the sandy flats, 

 the largest trees having been found in the Chagos group, Solomon, 



