S34 Description of the Bermuda Islands, 



pearanco to the islands. It grows throughout the whole 

 island, in every kind of exposure ; but in the valleys its ve- 

 getation is more vigorous than upon the summit of the 

 hills, and the primordial branches .attain to a great height, 

 its elevation does not exceed 40 or 50 feet, and its diameter 

 is from a foot to 15 inches. Although the branches have a 

 tendency to expand from the trunk, those of the full-grown 

 trees touch each other ; which may give an idea of the di- 

 stance at which they are placed. Upon the heights, and in 

 places which having been recently laid bare are replenished 

 with young trees from the seeds of the old, one fourth of 

 the young trees forms a thicket ; the branches shoot out 

 very close to the earth, and extend eight or ten feet around 

 the parent tree. 



These cedar trees are not felled at any regular season i 

 they cut down a tree whenever they think it of a sufficient 

 size for their purpose, leaving it to nature to till up the va- 

 cancies made by these occasional removals ; and to this im- 

 providence may in a great measure be ascribed the high 

 price to which the wood of these trees has risen. 



It was the tlourishing season when I was at the Bermudas. 

 The female trees were discernible at the distance of 15 or 

 20 paces by the darker colour of their foliage : the seeds 

 are ripe about the end of October, but they fall during win- 

 ter; so that I could find only a very few upon the trees. 

 I am very anxious to see them cultivated, and have no 

 doubt that this tree woidd be a valuable acquisition, either 

 for the island of Corsica, or for some parts of our de- 

 partments of the South near the Mediterranean. They make 

 a syrup of these seeds, said to be extremely useful in cer- 

 tain pulmonary complaints. 



Thtjimiperi/s Bermiidiana is very much esteemed, bn ac- 

 count of the quality of its wood * ; it is fine grained, com- 

 pact, and more resinous than the jjiniperus Virginiana. As 

 in the former species the sap is only five or six lines thick in 

 a tree of 1 2 or 14 inches diameter, this wood is employed 



* We may judge of its colour and smell from the black lead pencils called 

 English crayons : the juniper tree of the Bermudas and that of Virginia are 

 equally employed in their fabrication. 



in 



