Ixvi INTRODUCTION. 



and protection of Sir Joseph Banks. At the house of this 

 patron of science he met with the first naturahsts of the 

 ao-e, and among others with that distinguished geologist, 

 the Baron Von Buch, whose habits and feelings being con- 

 oenial with his own, they soon projected a voyage of scien- 

 titic inquiry to the island of Madeira, and to those of the 

 Canaries. 



On the 21st April, 1815, they landed at Funchal, the 

 capital of Madeira. " From that moment," says M. Von 

 Buch, " transported with the sight of so many new ob- 

 jects, Smith knew no repose ; he laid hold of the several 

 species of Cactus which in the most whimsical forms cover 

 the rocks, to convince himself that they were real ; he 

 leaped over the walls to examine those forests of Donax 

 which the wind agitates above the vines to which they give 

 support ; he ran from flower to flower, as if in extacy, and 

 ,it was with great difficulty he could be prevailed on to enter 

 the town. Here again his eye was delighted in traversing 

 the great square, and observing the avenue of large trees of 

 Justicia, of the Melia Azedarach, and of the gigantic Da- 

 tura, covered with their large and brilliant blossoms, Avhich 

 fill the air with their perfumes ; the immense leaves of the 

 Banana trees waving above the walls, and the superb palm 

 lifting its lofty head high above the houses ; the singular 

 form of the Dragon tree ; the fragrance of the flowers, 

 and the tufted foliage of the orange trees threw him into 

 raptures. The elegant coffee-shrub is found only in the 

 gardens ; but the pine-apple flourishes in the open fields ; 

 and the Mimosa, the Eucalyptus, the Melaleuca, the Mam- 

 mea, Clitorea, Erythrina, Eugenia, of which the dwarfish 

 fragments only are seen in the conservatories of Europe, 



