147 



• 



Cargados. 



This group, and Albatross Island, is situated about 6° south 

 of any of the other islands dealt with here, and about 4° north- 

 east of Mauritius. According to Gardiner the * fc expedition 

 landed on Establishment Island, where fish-curing was carried 

 on. An attempt was being made to cultivate a few gourds and 

 marrows, but the soil was evidently of the most inhospitable 

 description; bois manioe, Scaevola, and boi- de balais, 

 Erythroxylon, alone flourishing. A few Cocas wore coining up, 

 and there was a small grove of Casuarina, a tree which seems 

 to be capable of withstanding almost any conditions of drought 

 and salinity. Here and there are clumps of low bush — Eryth- 

 Toxylon or Tournefortia — matted together by the liane sans fin, 

 Cassyiha filiformis. 



Siren and two Bird Islands were also visited 3 but only ten 

 kinds of plants were observed, including the above-named and 



Pisojiia. 



The Laccadive Islands. 



As long ago as 1890 Sir David Prain published an account 

 of the plants of the Laccadives, which is much more than a 

 list, as it includes a careful analysis of the constituents of the 

 vegetation and the general distribution of the probably indi- 

 genous species. The enumeration comprises 80 species 

 including 17 in the strictest sense cultivated, and the author 

 at a later date kindly communicated the names of 20 additional 



J 5 



* 



species; all more or less widely distributed plants. The distri- 



table of 



are 



nearly cosmopolitan in warm countries. There is no endemic 

 species; all are Indian; all except 7 are recorded from Ceylon, 

 and all except 12 are known to inhabit the Malay Archipelago. 

 55 of the 80 species are also recorded from Mauritius; 56 from 

 continental Africa; 50 from Australia, and 45 from Polynesia. 

 It should be borne in mind that there is nothing absolute about 

 the foregoing figures; but they prove that the vegetation of the 

 Laccadives is composed solely of widely dispersed elements. 

 The absence of Casuarinaj Cyc&s\ and Orchids is noteworthy. 

 Only two ferns, Nephrodiiim violle and Xephrolepi* tnberosa, 

 both most widely diffused kinds, have been collected. Concern - 

 ins: the origin of the flora, Prain estimates that it is whollv 

 derived and the agencies of introduction four, namely, Man, 70 



5 per cent. 



per 



The M 



Willis and Stanley Gardiner's Botany of this Archipelago is 

 very comprehensive and of the comparatively recent date of 

 1901, and really embodies all that was known of the Flora of the 

 Maldives, Laccadives and CJiagos Archipelago. The combined 

 floras number 359 species of vascular plants, t€ of which about 

 245 are cultivated, or weeds of cultivation; T3 probably intro- 

 duced by sea; 28 by birds, and 13 by wind. The flora of these 

 islands is undoubtedly recent and derived from abroad . 



