BOTANY OF TERNANDO NOKOKHA. O 



Island (Ilha dos Eatos), about a mile long, the most easterly of 

 the group. Next to it, and apparently comparatively recently 

 separated from it, is Ilha do Meio, or Booby Island. Then 

 follows Sella Giueta, called in the Admiralty chart St. Michael's 

 Mount*, a large phonolite peak rising straight from the sea ; and 

 between that and the main island is a low, flat, coral-reef island 

 like that of Ilha do Meio, called Ilha Eaza, or Egg Island, 

 a little north of which are a few rocks forming a connexion 

 with San Jose, or Platform Island, on which are the remains of 

 a fort. On the south of the main island lie, at intervals, several 

 rocky islets almost entirely barren of vegetation ; and on the 

 north side are two very similar conical basalt rocks known, as 

 Dois Irmaos. 



Rat Island is a basaltic island of some size, the eastern end of 

 which terminates in lofty crags, the haunt of numerous sea-fowl. 

 The cliffs are lower on the north and south-eastern sides, and the 

 ground slopes away to the west, where the basalt is overlaid by a 

 considerable deposit of coral-reef, which, again, is covered with a 

 layer of guano. At one point on the south-east corner the 

 waves have eroded the reef so as to form a blowhole through 

 which the spray rushes with great violence, so that the fountain 

 can be seen at a distance of live or six miles. Eound this 

 blowhole was found Sesuvhim disti/lum, n. sp., forming bright 

 yellowish-green patches. The guano-ground was covered with a 

 thick growth of Ipomoea Batatas, I. pentapliylla, PhijUanthus, 

 Momordica Cliaraiitia, Pliaseolus lunatus, Ricinus communis. 

 Further inland the chief vegetation consisted of Scoparia 

 diilcis, Cifperus ligiilaris, C briinnet/s, ^sclnjnomene hisjjida; 

 while on the clifts were the usual cliff-flora of this district — : 

 Canavalla ohtusifoUa, Philoxerus vermicularis, Cereus insularis, 

 &c. 



The only plants found here, and nowhere else in the island, 

 were Scoparia piirj)U7'ea, n. sp., Sesuvium distylum, Cenchrus 

 viridis. 



Owing probably to want of shelter from the winds there are 

 no trees on the island, the Eig, Ficus NoronhcE, being reduced 

 to a large shrub. There were a considerable number of weeds 

 introduced by man, due partly to the settlement of Capt. Eoma 



* Most of the names on the Admiralty chart giTen by the French and English 

 expeditions sent to the island are utterly unknown to the inhabitants of the 

 island, whose nomenclature I hare preferred in this report. 



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