PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 133 



fix them, and they must be renewed every time the CI /y P * 

 linen is washed. The method of producing the "-^v— 

 brown dye has already been described. 1825. 



The temperate climate of Pitcairn Island is ex- 

 tremely favourable to vegetation, and agriculture is 

 attended with comparatively light labour. But as 

 the population is increasing, and wants are generated 

 which were before unthought of, the natives find it 

 necessary to improve their mode of culture; and for 

 this purpose they make use of sea- weed as manure. 

 They grow but one crop in a year of each kind. 

 The time of taking up the yams, &c. is about April. 

 The land is not allowed time to recover itself, but is 

 planted again immediately. Experience has enabled 

 them to estimate, with tolerable precision, the quan- 

 tity that will be required for the annual consump- 

 tion of the island ; this they reckon at 1000 yams 

 to each person. The other roots, being considered 

 more as luxuries, are cultivated in irregular quanti- 

 ties. The failure of a crop, so exactly estimated, 

 must of course prove of serious consequence to the 

 colony, and much anxiety is occasionally felt as the 

 season approaches for gathering it. At times cold 

 south-westerly winds nip the young plants, and turn 

 such as are exposed to them quite black : during 

 our visit several plantations near the sea-coast were 

 affected in this manner. At other times caterpillars 

 prove a great source of annoyance. 



The yam is reproduced in the same manner as 

 potatoes in England. The taro (caladium esculentum) 

 requires either a young shoot to be broken off and 

 planted, or the stem to be removed from the 

 root, and planted after the manner of raising pine- 

 apples. The yappe is a root very similar to the 



