280 



CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



ance that characterizes more favored tropical lands, the num- 

 ber of species of land plants is small. When " Gray's Botany 

 of the Paumotus " shall appear, it will contain descriptions of 

 only 28 or 30 species. The most common kinds are the fol- 



lowing: 



Portulacca oleracea L. (lutea 



of Solander). 

 Triumfetta procumbens Forst. 

 Tournefortia argentea L. 

 Scsevola Konigii Vahl. 

 Ipomsea longiflora R. Br. 

 Lepidium piscidium Forst. 

 Pemphis acidula Forst. 

 Pandanus odoratissimus L. f. 

 Pisonia grandis Parkinson. 

 Morinda citrifolia L. 

 Guettarda speciosa L. 



Cassytha filiformis L. 

 Gouldia Romanzoffiensis A. Gr. 

 Euphorbia Chamissonis JBoiss. 

 Boerhavia diffusa L. 

 Boerhavia hirsuta Wild. 

 Achyranthes canescens R. Br. 

 Heliotropium prostratura R. Br. 

 Nesogenes euphrasioides, A. DC, 

 Asplenium Nidus L. 

 A Polypodium, and a species of 

 Grass 



Still, there is a better supply than might be supposed. For 

 the cocoanut, in view of its uses, is a dozen trees in one. Its 

 trunk furnishes timber for the houses of the natives, and the 

 best of wood, on account of its weight and strength, for clubs 

 and spears, weapons much in use, besides serving as ornamen- 

 tal side-arms. Its leaves supply material for thatching ; for 

 coarse matting to sit on, and beautiful fine mats for use in the 

 way of occasional dress ; also for the short aprons or petti- 

 coats of the women, above alluded to. The fruit, besides its 

 delicately-flavored hollow kerne 1 , affords, by the grating of 

 this kernel, a milky juice, that is richer than cream for pur- 

 poses of native cookery, and which we explorers often used 

 with satisfaction in coffee, cows being unknown in those re- 

 gions ; also, from each nut, a pint of the thinner " cocoanut 

 milk," a more agreeable drink in the land of cocoanuts than 

 in New York ; also an abundant oil, much valued for sleeking 

 down their naked bodies, and sometimes offered to a friendly 



