ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 31 



Typha (Cats-tail); identical with the European Typha an- 

 gustifoiia ; a singular fact, and important in reference to the 

 geography of plants. 



Two varieties of sugar-cane are cultivated near the lake, 

 in the valleys of Aragua : the common sugar-cane of the 

 West Indies, Cana criolla ; and the cane recently introduced 

 from the Pacific, Cana de Otaheiti. The verdure of the 

 Tahiti an cane is of a much lighter and more agreeable tint, 

 and a field of it can readily be distinguished at a great dis- 

 tance from a field of the common cane. The sugar-cane of 

 Tahiti was first described by Cook and George Porster, who 

 appear, however, from the excellent memoir of the latter 

 upon the edible plants of the islands of the Pacific, to have 

 been but little acquainted with its valuable qualities. Bou- 

 gainville brought it to the Isle of Prance, from whence it 

 was conveyed to Cayenne, and since 1792 it has been taken 

 to Martinique, Hayti, and several of the smaller West Indian 

 Islands. It was carried with the bread-fruit tree to Jamaica 

 by the brave but unfortunate Captain Bligh, and was intro- 

 duced from the Island of Trinidad to the neighbouring coast 

 of Caraccas, where it became a more important acquisition 

 than the bread-fruit, which is never likely to supersede a 

 plant so valuable and affording so large an amount of 

 sustenance as the plantain. The Tahitian sugar-cane is much 

 richer in juice than the common cane, said to be originally 

 a native of the east of Asia. On an equal surface of ground 

 it yields a third more sugar than the cana criolla, which has 

 a thinner stalk and smaller joints. As, moreover, the West 

 India islands begin to suffer great want of fuel, (in Cuba 



