128 A BOTANICAL TOUR AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 
real lover of plants to pause at almost every step of his ramble to admire their 
singular beauty. And who is there that could pass by those gorgeously attrac- 
tive treasures of the vegetable kingdom—the Crotons and Dracsnas— without 
being filled with wonder and admiration? I was so fortunate as to find up- 
wards of thirty-five new varieties of Dracena during the cruise, an and was often 
Aneitum may be considered perfectly sai for the traveller as regards the 
natives, who are certainly the most miserable-looking of any of the Polynesians 
I have seen. Traversing the island, I met with some fine specimens of Dam- 
mara obtusa. Both in Vate and in Aneitum the Dammara is by far the 
, 
Many species of Santalum occur in the mountains, but a large specimen of this 
thaceous, Malvaceous, Araliaceous, Rutaceous, Euphorbiaceous, Myrtaceous, 
and Fabaceous plants, seem to be the predominating Orders among the under- 
scrub. Two clim bing Ferns of extraordinary beauty,—Lygodiction and a 
busa Arundinacea, though quite distinct from that species, is sometimes to be 
ound in clumps upon the mountain sides ; $ and v ery pretty it is when curving 
n s, 
above the water, and upon the decaying timber partly imbedded with them, 
Ferns of all kinds were to be seen. Two of these, more numerous than others, 
Lomaria atienuata and L. emdiiala hada stems often three feet in length,— 
were suggestive of a Lilliputian grove of Tree-ferns. Close to the shore upon 
the other side were forests o t Pandanus l have seen. Some of them 
were beautifully variegated, their drooping fronds catehing the spray, and their 
roots washed illow. Night came on before I had quite reached 
the coast, after a toilful journey aeross the moun 3 had 
ling 
been APIS for the following day, or I should have been S ug to bivouae for 
the night. It soon became quite dark, and the rocks, which are almost impass- 
able ate the coast, te me many a severe tumble. To prevent this my 
guides lit torches of the dried stems and leaves of an Arundinaria, which were 
a great assistance. Night, however, had nearly passed over before I reached 
the mission station. 
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