GARDENS AND ORANGE GROUNDS OF ST. MICHAEL'S, 241 



Specimens of Camellias, Arbutuses, Metrosideros, &c., in the 

 island. In this garden is a plant of the Cajeputi tree, Mela- 

 leuca Leucodendron, above thirty feet high. The trunk is 

 enclosed in a thick coating of tliin layers of papyriferous bark. 

 The Portuguese name it the paper-tree, on account of its shaggy 

 bark being easily stripped off and divided into sheets, as it were, 

 of fine paper. 



The light and airy foliage of the Cajeputi, with its ragged 

 coating, gives it a wild, interesting form, and at the same time a 

 character quite its own. 



I will now cursorily describe all the large trees that have been 

 introduced, many of which have become already important 

 features, not only on the face of the country, but in supplying 

 wood for building, orange-boxes, and for other pur|X)ses. The 

 greater part of the wood at present used for building is impo/ted 

 from America and Figaro. But within the last ten years planta- 

 tions have sprung up on almost everj' uncultivated side of the 

 mountains, where the soil is unfit for agricultural purposes. 

 Formerly every proprietor in the island planted for himself, but 

 latterly a more liberal feeling has prevailed, and now every 

 piece of ground that will not produce corn or oranges is planted 

 with timber trees. I have already stated that Pinus pinaster is 

 one of the best trees for thoroughly resisting the effects of the 

 salt spray ; it is also one wiiich has become universal throughout 

 the island, and is the principal tree employed in the construction 

 of orange-boxes. We have also Laurus indica, named Viniiatico 

 by the Portuguese, and known in England as Madeira mahogany ; 

 tliere is likewise another Laurus, called Camphora by the natives, 

 but it is quite a distinct species from L. camphora. When or 

 how it was introduced I could never ascertain. This tree grows 

 from sixty to seventy feet high, has intense deep green foliage, 

 possesses a strong camphory scent, and produces abundance of 

 spikes of white, sweet-scented flowers, which are succeeded by 

 seeds resembling an acorn. If this tree would prove hardy in 

 England, it would surpass any of our evergreen trees at present 

 introduced. 



In a neigiibouring garden stood the parent-tree of all the 

 Camphoras in the island ; it is between sixty and seventy feet 

 high, and sixteen feet in circumference at the base of the trunk, 

 which is quite as knotted and gnarled as that of any of our old 

 Oaks. These two Lau ruses are widely disseminated throughout 

 tiie island ; the former is generally planted in plantations, the 

 latter, at one time, was much employed as shelter for the orange- 

 gardens, but being a gross feeder its use in that way has been 

 greatly diminished. 



In the garden of Jose do Canto are Oaks, Elms, Beech, 



VOL. VII. s 



