1768. ROUND THE WORLD. 11 



trees of the island. Mr. Banks inquired after the 

 wood which has been imported into England for 

 cabinet work, and is here called Madeira mahogany : 

 he learnt that no wood was exported from the island 

 under that name, but he found a tree called by the 

 natives Vigniatico, the Lauriis indiciis of Linnaeus, 

 the wood of which cannot easily be distinguished 

 from mahogany. Dr. Heberden has a book-case, in 

 which the vigniatico and mahogany are mixed, and 

 they are no otherwise to be known from each other 

 than by the colour, which, upon a nice examination, 

 appears to be somewhat less brown in the vigniatico 

 than the mahogany ; it is, therefore, in the highest 

 degree probable, that the wood known in England 

 by the name of Madeira mahogany, is the vigniatico. 



There is great reason to suppose that this whole 

 island was, at some remote period, thrown up by 

 the explosion of subterraneous fire, as every stone, 

 whether whole or in fragments, that we saw upon it, 

 appeared to have been burnt, and even the sand 

 itself to be nothing more than ashes : we did not, 

 indeed, see much of the country, but the people 

 informed us that what we did see was a very exact 

 specimen of the rest. 



The only article of trade in this island is wine, 

 and the manner in which it is made is so simple, that 

 it might have been used by Noah, who is said to 

 have planted the first vineyard after the flood : the 

 grapes are put into a square wooden vessel, the 

 dimensions of which are proportioned to the size of 

 the vineyard to which it belongs ; the servants then, 

 having taken off their stockings and jackets, get 

 into it, and with their feet and elbows press out as 

 much of the juice as they can : the stalks are after- 

 wards collected, and being tied together with a rope, 

 are put under a square piece of wood, which is 

 pressed down upon them by a lever with a stone tied 

 to the end of it. The inhabitants have made so little 

 improvement in knowledge or art, that they have 



