316 



upon, gives some valuable suggestions (p. 208) regarding the 

 ^composition and general nature of the original forests of the 

 archipelago. We may be allowed here to emphasise his opinion 

 ihat evergreen shrubs and trees, with ferns and mosses, formed the 

 principal features of the vegetation, and that ^^ a close forest of 

 evergreens must have formerly covered the ground/' After a 

 few weeks in the islands, the present writer found himself uncon- 

 sciously restoring the evergreen woods that once predominated in 

 the group. Except as concerns the genera Ta,vus^ Etiphorbiay 

 Smilaxy and Khamnus^ his list corresponds with that of Watson, 

 though only the species regarded as most characteristic are below 

 named. 



Amongst the trees, Erica azorica, Lauras canariensisy Myrica 

 jayay and Juniperus oxycedrus would have been most frequent. 

 Ilex 'perado would have been well represented, together with 

 Picconia excelsa and Taxiis haccata, both of which are rare in the 



existing forests. Rhamnvs latif 



llil 



bably more frequent than it is at present. Amongst the evergreen 

 shrubs, Myrsine africana^ it is likely, took a leading part; 

 Vacciniuvi cylindraceum was*^ abundant; and whilst Daphne 

 laureola flourished in the upper woods, Hypericum foliosuvi was 

 frequent in -the lower woods. The Laurustinus shrub (Vihurnum 

 •tinus) was well represented in places, and climbers like Smilax 

 canariensis and Hedera canariensis were conspicuous. One cannot, 

 however, pursue this subject further here, and brief reference will 

 ■now be made to another feature of the orio-inal everirreen forests. 



It is apparent from the old Portuguese and other authorities 

 of the 16th century quoted by Walker, such as Fructuoso, Cor- 

 •deiro, and Linschoten, that the islands were once heavily tim- 

 bered. Fructuoso speaks of the dense and loftv woods of cedars 

 {Jumperus), fayas {Myrica faya), and laurels on tlie slopes of the 

 r-alley of the Furnas in San Miguel in the 16th century. 

 Linschoten writes of the abundance of the " excellent and princely 

 wood" of the "teixo" {Torus haccata) on Pico in the same 

 century. Walker also quotes the works of the old historians to 

 the effect that^ as on Terceira, the tinihor of the cedar {Jvniperus, 

 the *' cedro " of the nresent islnnf^firi5^ wnn affan ' ^ ~ .- 



em 



beams and roofs of churches. The last record, he says, of these 



jnognificent " Azorean cedars belongs to the first part of the 

 ITth century; and nearly all the old timber trees of the Azores 

 seem to have disappeared before the close of that century. He 

 mentions the occurrence of large trunks of the cedar and other 

 trees lying buried in volcanic ashes on San Miguel ; and in this 

 connection Trelease (p. 169) remarks that " large logs, apparently 

 of this species {Juniperus), occur deeply buried " under volcanic 



debris m one of the large craters of that island. " F: — 



occasionally unearthed at the Seven Cities and Furnas (writes 

 Walker, concerning San Miguel, p. 25) there is little doubt that 

 these splendid trees, on its first discovery, inhabited a high belt 

 of country extending east and west along the island." According 

 to the same authority, specimens of the Tree-Heath and of the 

 Faya of giant proportions and in a state of lignite have been 



om 



