364 BOTANY. 



in long cruises ; for if carefully selected, while they are 

 yet green in colour, of moderate size, and dry and un- 

 bruised, and separately enveloped in paper, and kept in 

 a dry airy spot, a large proportion of the original stock 

 may be preserved at sea for three or four months. 

 This simple and effectual mode of securing a sea- stock 

 of fruit so valuable as the orange, cannot be too 

 earnestly recommended to commanders of ships touch- 

 ing at the above islands, where the abundance and 

 cheapness of this fruit offer every facility for a large 

 supply and very careful selection ; while the advantages 

 of possessing so agreeable an antiscorbutic are rendered 

 more important, by the general deficiency in yams that 

 obtains at most of the Society Islands, and the very 

 perishable nature of their indigenous esculent vege- 

 tables. 



C. medica, var. Lime Tree. This species or variety 

 is usually smaller than the orange-tree, which it re- 

 sembles in its style of growth, as well as in its flower. 

 The fruit has the appearance of a small lemon, and 

 contains a large proportion of acid juice, which, when 

 applied to the purposes of shipping, is a less agreeable, 

 but at the same time a much less perishable antiscor- 

 butic than the orange, and can also be obtained at the 

 Society Islands in great abundance, and at a very 

 trifling cost. 



The method pursued by Captain Stavers, to supply 

 the Tuscan with this essential part of her sea-stock, 

 scarcely admits*of any improvement. The recent fruit 

 was obtained in large quantities from the natives, and 

 the juice expressed on board the ship and by native 

 children, by which its purity was insured ; for if the 

 natives are allowed to perform this office on shore, 

 they invariably add a quantity of water to the expressed 



