252 NOTES ON THE BOTANY 
discernible even in such places, not even with the aid of the 
telescope. After an ineffectual endeavour, by landing at 
another point, to reach the higher portions of the island in 
search of this grove of trees, the great intervening distance 
and the ruggedness of the country compelled them to turn 
back, nor was it till the signal was given, that the party 
reluctantly went on board. After a voyage, rendered very 
tedious by beating against the trade winds, the expedition 
reached St. Helena on the Ist of February, 1840. 
It must be a source of great regret to every botanist to 
know that this insulated rock, originally inhabited by a most 
peculiar vegetation, should have had its productions so com- 
pletely changed by the destruction occasioned by cattle, and 
by the introduction of European and other plants, especially 
forest-trees, that these now take place of the native growth. 
On this subject, much valuable information will, no doubt, 
be laid before the public. In the gardens of St. Helena 
there exists the strangest mixture of Tropical, European, 
and even Australian and Chinese vegetation, that can be con- - 
ceived. Acacias, Casuarinas, Pittospora, Billardieras, Dam- 
maras, from New Zealand, and Eucalypti from New Hol- 
land, flourish along with the Scotch Fir, Plane, Peach, Apple, 
Pear, and Plum; and there are Scitaminee from the East | 
Indies, and A4roidee, with Pine-Apples, Roses, Hydrangeas, — 
Camellias end Tea-plants. An excursion to Diana’s Peak, 
_ and other places, with diligent search on the way, afforded 2 
the means of making a tolerable collection of such native 
vegetation as yet lingers on the islands. E 
. ... On their way to the Cape, and within a few miles of it, 
— the ships fell in with great masses of floating seaweed, all oF : 
one kind, a Laminaria, (L. buccinalis ?) which had been. 
torn up through the action of some great submarine force; - 
and in several instances they counted, proceeding from Mes 5 
branching root, 6 great stems, the longest of which measure" 
24 feet, erect, smooth, and rather club-shaped, broadest. 
above and fistulose; while from the summit of this again 
sprung the palmated blade or lamina, adding 6-8 feet to ar 
