110 BOTANICAL COINCIDENCES. 



mals from the American continent, it must have 

 been at a period subsequent to that when the 

 American coasts on the Pacific were first vi- 

 sited by the Spaniards. 



Vegetation, also, (and we may notice in 

 proof, the bread-fruit, candle-nut, sandal-wood, 

 iron-wood, (CasuarlnaJ arrow-root, (TaccaJ 

 and turmeric,) offers much that is common only 

 to Polynesian and Asiatic lands. The fan- 

 palms of Santa Christina, Marquesas, give to 

 that island a peculiarly oriental aspect. 



Arguments in support of the eastern side of 

 this question, must be gleaned from the histo- 

 ries of American nations on the verge of the 

 Pacific the only other quarter whence the po- 

 pulation of Polynesia can have sprung, unless 

 we are to entertain the startling theory, that the 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean are but the scat- 

 tered ruins of a former vast continent. 



