the Island of Tristan da Cunha, &c. 499 
Of the herbaceous plants, the most remarkable is a gigantic spe- 
cies 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 a 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 person may roll himself. n without any danger of 
sinking. Its stems grow to the f six or seven feet, and 
are of a solid, almost ligneous, te covered with a pro- 
fusion of leaves. This grass €ellent and durable 
thatch, and the young leaves ar orses and oxen. — 
The wild Celery grows in ab theTow ground, 
and attains a great size, its stem uring upwards of 
three inches in diameter. It pos gh degree the fla- 
vour of the garden celery, and by : ment might be 
brought to equal it in every respec 1 
A species of Chenopodium (C. to 
odour, is. common around the cant 
dried leaves of this plant is used a ? for tea by the 
Hottentots sent down in charge of the "he soldiers use 
for the same purpose the leaves of the ? baies — 
yield to the others in strength of odo | 
The low ground is overrun with a spe ' Acena (4. sarmen- 
Nea, 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 bur, which on the slightest touch fixes itself on 
one’s clothes, and falling in a hundred pieces, covers him all over 
with an unseemly crust of prickly seeds, not to be got rid of with- 
out infinite labour. : | 
strong balsamic 
infusion of. the 
VOL. XII. 3T Descrip- 
