296 Voyage of the Novara. 



not above a dozen or so cultivated spots on the Island ; if, 

 however, these are carefully cultivated, they can always furnish 

 enough excellent nourishing provision for from 80 to 100 men. 

 A quantity of potatoes, from 6 to 8 sacks, planted in June, 

 yield, in January or February, a crop of from 60 to 80 casks of 

 lOOlbs. each, or between 3 and 4 tons. 



Wheat, maize, and barley, also thrive at St. Paul, and their 

 cultivation has only been discontinued, in consequence of their 

 conversion into bread requiring a much larger amount of fuel 

 than is at the command of the residents. On the other hand, 

 all attempts to cultivate beans and peas have utterly failed 

 hitherto. All kinds of nutritive plants give but one crop in 

 the year. So also several kinds of trees, which promised to 

 grow well, considering the resemblance between the climate here 

 and that to which they were indigenous — such as Pinus mari- 

 tima, various kinds of Frotea, &c., and the successful rearing 

 of which would ultimately prove an extraordinary benefit to all 

 who frequent the island, in consequence of the great scarcity of 

 firewood — were planted as seedlings by the gardener attached to 

 the Expedition, in the vicinity of the two huts used for the 

 observations. Assuredly it will not be one of the least im- 

 portant benefits of the Novara Expedition, which it will have 

 conferred on St. Paul, if the growth of the seedlings, planted in 

 its soil with such a noble purpose in view, should result in the 

 gradual and at all events partial clothing of the island in the 

 forest. 



As to the Fauna of St. Paul, there appears to be one kind of 



