172 



r. 



REMARKS 



O N 



T II E 



VEGE- 



TABLE 



KINGDOM 



> 



this famous navigator; and, as he Ukewiie mentions filver, ebon}v 

 pepper, and cinnamon among the produdions of Tierra del Efpi- 

 ritu Santo, and the iiles in the neighbourhood, I am inclined to 



- 



believe, that they are really to be met with there. 



Another material obilacle to our compleating th<^ Flora of the 

 South-Seas, and v/hich indeed is conneded with the former, , arifes 

 .from the changes of feafons : for though, between the tropics, they. 



be not flrongly marked with the alternatives of heat and cold, yet 



according to the approach or recefs 



of the fun, vegetation is more 



h. 



or lefs adive. This we experienced, by touching at fome of the 

 iiles, tv/o different times, after an interval of feven months. 



The 



1L 



firil was in Augufb (1773) or the height of the dry feafon ; when 

 we found every thing wearing a yellowiHi or exhaufted colour 5 many 



had jQied their leaves, and few 



were in flower 



The 



^ 



fecondtime, being in April (1774), foon after the rainy, or at the 



M 



beginning of the dry feafon, we were furprized beyond meafure by 

 the lively hues which now appeared in thofe very objeds, that had: 



feemed 



were dead 



firfl vifit : we found many 



flower 



which we had never h^w before % obferved many others in 

 and ^v^ry thing covered with a thick foliage of a frefh. and. vivid' 



the longer time we fpenf 



and from this circumfl:ance. aad 



at the Society Ifles, our colledions from thence are the mofl: per-* 

 fed. It is true, the difference of dry and rainy feafons is not fo 



fl;rongly 



