202 coco PLANTS. [1846. 



of landing without greater danger, we therefore bore 

 away to make another attempt on Frigate Island, and to 

 withdraw our party, a service not easily effected. 



Ultimately, we obtained excellent observations on Coco 

 Island, and having collected a number of young Coco 

 plants at the Keelings, for the purpose of transferring a 

 better plant here, we left at Frigate,* and this latter 

 station, two plantations, the fruit of which will, I trust, 

 if not destroyed by the fishermen, prove of value to any 

 poor creature who may meet with misfortune at these 

 spots. Formerly these fruit trees abounded sufficiently to 

 support the inhabitants, and furnish oil, but gales, added 

 to the desire of gain, and the uncontrolled appetites of 

 the blacks, have destroyed the trees for the sake of their 

 cabbage, or head shoots. These trees are not so readily 

 reared as imagined ; it is always attended with risk and 

 great care. It is so throughout the Pacific, and all persons 

 who form plantations, free from exposure to strong sea 

 winds, are well aware of this difficulty. So it proved with 

 these islets ; the instant they began to thin, to lose their 

 mutual support, and the breeze to play strongly through 

 them, so soon did they fail, and those which now remain, 

 inclined at a large angle from the prevailing breeze, seem 

 almost to quail under it. 



These are among the facts against the formation of 

 islands in the present day. My experience has taught 

 me that all coral islands are decreasing, and the sea cut- 

 ting channels through them. May not this be assumed 



* As fresh water was found at Frigate Island they will probably 

 thrive, as I planted them in the hollow, protected for some years from 

 the breeze. 



