220 ST. John's island. 



inner bark of the root is used for dyeing the na- 

 tive cloth of a fine yellow colour : this is done 

 by infusing the bark in water, into which the 

 cloth intended to be dyed is afterwards placed, 

 and being suffered to remain for some hours, is 

 taken out and dried in the sun. At Tahiti the 

 shrub is called Nono, or Aari ; at the Sandwich 

 Islands it is called Noni. The fruit is eaten at 

 some of the Polynesian Islands in seasons of 

 scarcity. 



The island, which is elevated, was profusely co- 

 vered with various kinds of fruit-trees, growing 

 in wild luxuriance, mingled with several pretty 

 flowering shrubs and plants, but spreading about 

 in almost every direction. The pine-apple plants, 

 at this time in fruit, at different stages of ad- 

 vancement towards maturity, and some decked 

 with their delicate blue flowers, were seen some- 

 times mixed with rich vegetation, and at others 

 kept cleared. 



On the summit of the island, the old signal 

 post, formed from the trunk of a tree, remained, 

 but the signal station had been removed to a 

 more elevated and convenient site upon the 

 hill, called Blackan Mattee. The view from 

 the summit of this elevated island, was both 

 extensive and beautiful ; the small islands 

 near us were either covered by a wilderness 

 of wood, or else the jungle was cleared 



