84 AVOYAGETO 



1776. Mr. Anderfon, my Surgeon, who, as I have ah-eady men- 



December. 



w— V ■ tioned, had made Natural Hiftory a part of his ftudies, loft 



no opportunity, during the fhort time we lay in Chriftmas 

 Harbour, of fearching the country in every direftion. He 

 afterwards communicated to me the obfervations he made 

 on its natural productions ; and I fliall infert them here 

 in his own words. 



•' Perhaps no place, hitherto difcovered in either hemi- 

 fphere, under the fame parallel of latitude, affords fo fcanty 

 a field for the naturalift as this barren fpot. The verdure 

 which appears, when at a little diftance from the fhore, 

 would flatter one with the expeflation of meeting with fome 

 herbage; but in this we were much deceived. For on land- 

 ing, we faw that this lively colour was occafioned only by 

 one fmall plant, not much unlike fome forts of Jhxifrage, 

 which grows in large fpreading tufts, to a confiderable way 

 up the hills. It forms a furface of a pretty large texture, 

 and grows on a kind of rotten turf, into which one finks a 

 foot or two at every ftep. This turf, dried, might, in cafes 

 of neceffity, ferve for fuel, and is the only thing we met 

 with here that could poffibly be applied to this ufe. 



There is another plant, plentifully enough fcattered about 

 the boggy declivities, which grows to near the height of 

 two feet, and not much unlike a fmall cabbage, when it 

 has fliot into feeds. The leaves about the root are nume- 

 rous, large, and rounded ; narrower at the bafe, and ending 

 in a fmall point. Thofe on the ftalks are much fmaller, 

 oblong, and pointed. The ftalks, which are often three 

 or four, all rife feparately from the root, and run into long 

 cylindrical heads, compofed of fmall flowers. It has not 



only 



