REPORT 



ON THE 



BOTANY, ETHNOGRAPHY, ETC., OF LEW CHEW 



BY C. F. FAHS, ASSISTANT SURGEON TJ. S. N. 



U. S. Steamer Susquehanna, 

 Naplia Roads, Lew Chew, February 5, 1854. 



Sir: I respectfully submit to you the following report, the result of my observations on the 

 island of Lew Chew, during the late expedition sent out for the purpose of making scientific 

 researches. 



In the short time allotted to us, it was of course impossible to make any very minute investi- 

 gations upon all the subjects to which our attention was directed; and therefore, while this 

 report is not designed to give full information, it is at least hoped that it may be the means of 

 conveying some intelligence, and of contributing a small mite to the general fund of scientific 

 knowledge. 



My attention has been mainly directed to botany, and in some measure to ethnography ; but 

 I have also, at the same time, examined, to a certain extent, the geology of the island ; indeed, 

 it is almost necessary to investigate the latter to pursue the former intelligibly. 



The geological features are certainly very striking, and cannot fail to interest any one engaged 

 in the scientific researches of nature. The first peculiarity that strikes the eye, is the great 

 masses of coral rock everywhere abounding, even on the tops of the highest mountains, four 

 and five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The same feature presents itself in nearly 

 every part of the interior of the island, and sometimes forms steep promontories along the sea- 

 coast. The latter, however, as a general rule, is bounded by gneiss rock, extending back 

 several hundred feet from the beach, where it is overlaid by high bluffs of coral limestone ; at 

 several places, I also saw strata of slate, though seldom near the sea-coast, which was likewise 

 found more elevated than the gneiss and granite rocks. The latter I observed only at one point 

 of the northwestern coast, and it appeared to be of a soft and inferior quality. The base of the 

 island is undoubtedly composed of gneiss, granite, and slate rocks ; and upon this the zoophytes 

 built their mountain masses of coral, which, being completed, were elevated by subterraneous 

 upheaval to their present height ; and, in time, by the action of the elements, were disintegrated 

 on the surface, so as to form soil, which, in the ages that have elapsed, became mingled with 

 the decayed vegetable and animal remains; by which means, the present geological features 

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