59 TTransacttons.— Miscellaneous. 
area enclosed is 1852 square miles, and of this only 76 miles habitable land. 
There are altogether 80 of these islands in the Paumotas, of which only 
nine enclose small islands. The reef does not rise more than eight or ten 
feet above the sea level, and varies in width from 100 yards to three-quarters 
of a mile. "There is generally an opening on the west side, through which 
the water constantly flows out, which Sir Charles Lyell regards as a proof 
of their subsidence. As a rule the vegetation is only on the east side, but 
in some cases, as at Ascension Island, the vegetation grows round the 
whole reef. : 
The beauty of these islands is a constant theme in story books, but there 
is undoubtedly a great want of variety. There are not more than 80 
species of plants found on them, and of these the Cocoa-nut Palm is the most 
important. This tree grows to a height of 80 feet, and forms dense groves, 
which can be seen a long way off from ships at sea. It is the staple food, 
‘and a great source of the wealth of the natives, The fruit is often their 
only food ; the milk supplies them with drink when fresh water is scarce. 
The shell is used as a cup; the fibre as cord, and rope, and mats. The 
timber is used for their huts, and the leaves for thatch. The dried nut, 
called cobra, or the oil expressed called cobra oil, is also an important 
article of commerce. 
The Pandanus ranks next in importance, and it grows close to the 
water on the patches of sand on the reefs from the Paumotas to Malaysia. 
The fruit is grated and made into eakes, which to a European taste like 
saw-dust; but the fruit is much better in the Gilbert Islands, where it is 
preferred to cocoa-nut. The leaves are used for roofs of houses, made into 
sails and mats, and the fibre woven into beautiful and delicate textures. 
The stem gives off zrial roots, which fix the tree firmly in the sand, and as 
it gives off bunches of leaves in a spiral form, with large cone-shaped fruit 
hanging underneath, it has obtained the name of screw pine. This stem is 
hollow, and the tough wood makes excellent bows. These two trees fur- 
nish the natives with food, clothes such as they require, houses, and 
weapons. There are not more than 28 other species of plants on these 
islands, and nearly all these like the cocoa-nut and pandanus range from 
South America to the East Indies. The Pisonia grandis, which grows to a 
height of 40 feet, and sometimes 20 feet in girth, with handsome foliage 
and large showy flowers, is found on some of the islands from America to 
India. The same may be said of two Berhavia, which are only prostrate 
or creeping plants, of a convolvulus, the Ipomea longijlora, and of a kind 
of cress, the Lepidium piscidium, which is eaten by the natives of New 
Caledonia as an article of food. I may also mention the Tournefortea argentea, 
an ugly shrub, and the Asplenium nidus, a handsome fern, both of which 
