92 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



thousand quintals of wool leaves a quantity of combustible matter 

 equal in value to six cubic metres of Pine-wood," 



For a knowledge of the preparation of a similar fibre from a West 

 Indian Pine, namely of the Bahamas, I am indebted to His Grace the 

 Duke of Newcastle, who, as Chief Secretary of State for the Colonies, 

 did me honour to send me the following copy of a letter addressed to 

 him by the Governor of Bahamas Islands, C. E. Nesbitt, Esq-, together 

 with samples of the fibre for the Museum of the Koyal Gardens. 



\ 



" Government House, Nassau, Bahamas, 



" loth December, 1853. 



" My Lord Duke, — I have the honour to enclose for your Grace's 

 information, the copy of a Keport made to me by the Surveyor-General 

 of Lands, relative to the vast indigenous forests in this Colony, of that 

 species of the * Abies ' [Pinus ?] commonly known as the * Pitch Pine 



Fir: 



" The Surveyor-General estimates these forests at not less" thaa 

 300,000 acres in extent; these are however singularly limited to four 



Islands in the Colony, viz. Abaco, Andros Island, Grand Bahama, and 

 New Providence, This Report was called for by me, in consequence of 

 a specimen of the fibre obtained from the spines or leaves of this species 

 of Fir-tree, deposited during the present year in the Nassau Museum ; 

 a larger portion of which fibre has been subsequently produced by the 

 labour of prisoners, a specimen of which is herewith forwarded for 

 your Grace's inspection. 



"I trust your Grace will kindly pardon any irregularity in thus 

 bringing under your notice a subject not of ordinary official routine. 

 A severe hurricane that occurred about the 22nd ultimo has created 

 much miseiy in the Colony, the lower orders, as is usually the case in 

 such visitations, being the greatest sufferers. The sad event adds much 

 to the previously entertained conviction, that the labouring class in this 

 Colony suffer very much for the want of some additional staple, on 

 which to employ their industry ; and, hoping that a new resource may 

 be found in the staple obtainable in these indigenous forests, I trust 

 that in thus commimicating with your Grace, as the head of the 

 Colonial Department, on the subject, some advantage may accrue to the 

 inhabitaiits of this Colony. 



