-IN THE WESTERN AZORES. 5 
Of maritime plants, I found only a scanty supply, 
chiefly on the sands about Port Pym. Here I gathered 
Juncus acutus, Polygonum maritimum, Salsola Kali, a species 
of Cakile, and a Convolvulus, much resembling C. Soldanella, 
but with white and larger flowers. On the other side of Horta, 
I saw Euphorbia Peplis. The rocks of the coast produced 
another species of Euphorbia, an Arenaria, and a profusion of 
Asplenium marinum, which indeed grew all over the is 
lands. 
In the vicinity of Horta, the land is almost all under culti- 
vation, having been converted into gardens, orange orchards, 
and cultivated fields, which are fenced by stone walls, with 
very narrow and rugged roads winding between them, also 
flanked by the monotonous stone walls. Living reeds are 
almost the only other material used for fences ; and planted 
in rows, they answer this purpose very well, growing ten feet 
high and upwards, so as to constitute an excellent protection 
against the violence of the Atlantic gales, before which their 
elastic stems bend without breaking. Against the trespasses 
of man they can be no defence ; but by cutting down some of 
them to be tied as rails across those which are left growing, a 
sufficient fence against cattle may readily be made. There is a 
constant renovation of these reed hedges from the succession 
of suckers thrown out by their roots. 
The field crops consist of maize, wheat, beans, lupines, ~ 
potatoes, and various gourds. The gardens produce lemons, 
oranges, grapes, figs, apricots, peaches, and bananas. Straw- 
berries do not succeed well, and the fruit which they do bear 
is with difficulty preserved from the innumerable blackbirds. 
Apples I observed in Pico and Flores, but none in Fayal. 
Cherries, raspberries, gooseberries, or currants, I saw neither 
in Fayal nor in any of the other islands. As to ornamental 
shrubs and flowers, anything that grows in our green-houses 
might or does grow in the open ground in Fayal; but the 
violentsea-breezes would break and destroy most kinds of trees, 
as they rose above the shelter of the walls, or of those robust e 
evergreens, which are constantly planted in the garc is and 
orange orchards to protect the less hardy kinds. The Pas- 
