304 USEFUL PLANTS. 



creeping among the loose stones of tombs, in wild un- 

 cultivated places, and the red globular berries of the 

 half-ripe fruit, formed a pleasing contrast to the green 

 foliage of the trailing Vines. 



The Bamboo (Arundo Bambos) grows wild in large 

 dense brakes, and in many parts the plains and mountain- 

 flanks are covered with Pine forests, the trunks, in several 

 cases, being chipped away by the natives for the sake of 

 the resinous wood, which is here employed as candles, 

 and which produces a bright, strong, clear light. They 

 use, likewise, a kind of light, dry wood, as slow-matches, 

 binding bundles of it together with grass, never allowing 

 it once to be extinguished during many days. In nu- 

 merous localities, more particularly on the summits of 

 the hills, there is a kind of Cryptogamic plant, with a soft 

 green, and somewhat gelatinous thallm, crumpled and 

 irregular in appearance, which is eaten by the poorer 

 sorts of the people. A kind of wild Celery, apparently 

 the same as our Apium graveolens, is likewise employed 

 by them as an agreeable anthelniintic and stomachic. 

 Yams do not appear to be known, but Sweet-Potatoes, 

 Peas, Turnips, Carrots, and Radishes, are met with in 

 large quantities. The Cotton plant (Gossypium Jtcrbaceum} 

 is cultivated in fields in many parts of the Mei'a-co- 

 shimah Group. 



You will see darting among the grass, in the Islands 

 of the Me'ia-co-shimahs, a very elegant and beautiful 

 little Lizard, with the throat and sides tinged with a 

 delicate red, and five bright yellow lines running along 

 the back, the central line dividing at the junction of 

 the head and neck, and again uniting at the apex of 



