CHAP. IV. ROYAL GARDENS AT PAMPLEMOUSES. 105 



of Africa, as well as from Australia and South America. 

 There is one noble avenue of palmistes, or palms ; it is at least 

 four hundred yards in length, and for extent and beauty is 

 probably unequalled in any other part of the globe. The 

 trees are remarkably regular on both sides, presenting few 

 openings or chasms. The tallest are forty or fifty feet high, 

 and have probably been growing where they now stand for 

 nearly a century. The young trees, more recently planted, 

 nearer the centre of the walk, cover the lower parts of the 

 trunks of the palms, and add greatly to the graceful beauty 

 of the vista, along which the lines of lofty waving plumes 

 extend. The long lines of tall and stately trunks, crowoied 

 with these plumes, and stretching along like an almost inter- 

 minable colonnade, present one of the most singular and mag- 

 nificent spectacles which it is possible to imagine.' 



Almost every variety of the palm species, or form of growth, 

 is to be found in these gardens, and I was much struck with 

 the graceful slender forms of some beautiful arecas. There were 

 also fine specimens of the Latania rubra, or fan-leaved palm, 

 and the singular leaved Garyota urens, the rofia tree, the tra- 

 veller's tree, and Dombeya cuspidata, the last three from Ma- 

 dagascar, as were also many of the rare and curious plants in 

 different parts of the grounds. There were some large trees 

 of Adansonia, and hibiscus with flowers of almost every hue, 

 growing luxuriantly, and requiring scarcely any other care 

 than to be kept within bounds by the priming knife. 



"VVith regard to the vegetation generally, not only in the 

 garden, but other parts of the island, I was often struck with 

 the almost incredible strength and rapidity of growth in the 

 shoots or branches of some kinds of trees, which frequently 

 attained ten or twelve feet in length, besides producino- 

 smaller lateral branches, in a single season. 



Australian trees were not so numerous, perhaps, as might 

 have been expected, though there was a tolerably well grown 



