REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF JUAN FERNANDEZ AND MASAFUERA 11 



flowers to attract certain insects on some mainland or other place where insects were abundant, 

 might, when transferred to an island devoid of insects suitable to its requirements, nevertheless 

 retain its gaudy flowers, little, or not at all impaired, for an indefinite period, just as animals which 

 have taken to deep-sea life have some of them retained their colours, though living in the dark. 1 



" Selkirk's Monument is placed on the crest of a short sharp ridge in a gap in the mountains at a 

 height of about 1800 feet above the sea. From this, a steep descent leads down on either side to 

 the shore. Here Selkirk sat and watched the sea on both sides of the island in long-deferred hope 

 of sighting a sail. 



" Here we rested for some time enjoying the view. Juan Fernandez is only ten miles in length, 

 and twenty square miles in area, and from this elevated point nearly the whole extent of the island 

 could be overlooked. Yet this tiny spot of land contains birds, land-shells, trees, and ferns which 

 occur nowhere else in the vast expanse of the universe, except here or in the neighbouring Masafuera. 

 One could almost count the number of trees of the endemic palm (Juania australis), and estimate 

 the number of pairs of the endemic humming-bird existent, at a bird for every bush. Two of the 

 species of land-birds, and all the twenty species of land-shells of the island, are endemic. 



" The temperature at the monument at 11 a.m. was 65° F. A small bat, possibly disturbed by the 

 sound of the gun, was seen to fly past. The common sow-thistle (Sonchns oleraccus), the ubiquitous 

 weed, has climbed up the pass, and grows by the monument. The endemic palm has been almost 

 exterminated, excepting in nearly inaccessible places, as on a rock above the monument, where a 

 group of the trees can be seen but not reached. 



" The terminal shoot of the palm, especially when cut just before the tree flowers, is excellent to 

 eat ; the developing leaf mass being quite white, and tasting something like a fresh filbert. It 

 seemed to me more delicate than that of the shoot of the cocoa-nut. The guide knew where there 

 was a tree remaining in the woods not far above sea-level, and I went with him to it hoping to find 

 it in flower. As it was not, I cut it down for eating, for the guide was only waiting to let it develop 

 further before felling it for that purpose himself. A few seedling palms grew near by. 



" Most remarkable in appearance amongst the endemic arboreous Compositse are the species of the 

 genus Dendroscris, allied to our chicory. The specimens which I saw in flower were rather large 

 straggling shrubs than trees, but with thick woody stems, and branches from ten to fifteen feet in height. 

 The leaves are very like those of a dandelion in appearance, and the stem, which, when split open, 

 has a curiously chambered pith, has just the smell of a dandelion root, and would no doubt yield 

 chicory. It pours out, like the dandelion and allied plants, a milky juice when cut. 



"The flesh of the wild goats of the island is most excellent eating, no doubt because of the 

 abundance of their food. In some parts of the island, especially to the south-west, there are open 

 stretches covered with long grass. Pigeons (Columba cenas), which are said to have been imported 

 into the island, are common, and feed on the hill-sides in flocks." 



The Sandalwood of Juan Fernandez. 

 Several of the earlier writers allude to the presence of sandalwood in Juan Fernandez, 

 yet no specimen of any kind exists in any of the collections of the plants at Kew or the 

 British Museum. Molina 2 says "the island of Juan Fernandez produces the red, yellow, 



1 Wallace, Tropical Nature, p. 274. London, 1878. 



2 The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili, English edition, London, 1809, i. p. 137. 



