LA ELE be idc bisce ca uir" vier id ui SS Ee wea ee ee 
ne SET ome : 
VEGETATION OF THE FEEJEE ISLANDS. 671 
but others are less abrupt, presenting some extensive plains, 
sometimes alluvial and covered with a rich and luxuriant 
vegetation. The country was little accessible from our an- 
chorage, and the character of the people at present makes 
travelling into the interior quite out of the question; so that 
our means of examining the vegetation were extremely 
limited. One cursory glance was, however, sufficient to 
show thatthe features of the Flora, as contrasted with the 
Polynesian, were sufficiently distinct; the vegetation is far more 
varied, Leguminose are more abundant, Mangrove appears 
in the creeks, and a Passiflora, Chamerops, and a phyllodin- 
ous Acacia are seen among the vegetation, with many peculiar 
and interesting plants. In the interior of some of the islands 
a Pine, similar to the Cowdie (Dammara australis) of New 
Zealand, is said to exist; and, on the authority of the mis- 
sionaries, I may mention the presence of the nutmeg, clove, 
and cinnamon. Of Myristica, which presently becomes such 
an important element of the forest both in species and indi- 
viduals, this is undoubtedly the eastern limit; and though 
I heard of only one species, there are most probably others. 
The animal as well as the vegetable kingdom seems here to 
receive a new impulse. Birds are numerous in the woods, 
contrasting strongly with the unbroken stillness of the re- 
tired vallies of the Society Islands and other of the groups. 
The insect world is also copiously represented; and the shores - 
afford a great variety of shells, of which the species of Conus, 
Cyprea, Strombus, and Mitra are particularly numerous. A 
few animals are indigenous, and the natives decorate them- 
selves with the tusks of a wild hog, which they sometimes re- 
pair in parties into the interior to hunt. In the vicinity of 
the sea are a number of plants, which are generally diffused 
| about the shores of Southern Polynesia, as Guilandina Bon- 
. duc, Abrus precatorius, Tephrosia piscatoria, Lavenia erecta, 
Casuarina equisetifolia, Aleurites triloba, Barringtonia spe- 
. €iosa, Morinda citrifolia, Inocarpus edulis, Tournefortia argen- 
tea, Dracontium pertusum, and Dracena terminalis. The 
_ bread-fruit, ufo of the natives, is in less request than else- 
VOL, I. 
