AFRO-INDIAN REGIONS. 



markable for its very long pinnate leaves; and a sort of sliruh-fern, 

 the rhizoraa upright, rigid and branching in different directions to 

 the height of four feet or more, with small, entire, scattered fronds, 

 so Vaccinium-like as to be overlooked, mistaken for a real shrub. 



The First visit of the Peacock lasted only six days : leaving Mbua 

 Bay on the 11th, the ship continued inside of the coral-tract along 

 the Northwestern or leeward shore of Vanua-levu; and on the 12th, 

 reached Naloa. There is here a tract of barren, gravelly upland ; 

 several square miles of comparatively even surface, almost deserving 

 the name of plain. The scattered, scrubby growth of detached, small 

 trees, and intermingled bushes, brought to mind our New Jersey bar- 

 rens; the wind sighing through the pine-like boughs of the Casimrina 

 trees, while beneath, were thinly-scattered grasses, with here and 

 there a low branchy Schi?:a3a that might be mistaken for Sarothra, 

 also frequent beds of Pteris. But these were intermingled with 

 Gleiclienia ; and the scrubby forest-growth, seldom so thick as seri- 

 ously to impede travelling, consisted of: a frequent Ahtonia, twenty 

 to twenty-five feet high; the willow-like Acacia; a Cerhera; the Com- 

 mersonia ; gen. Ceanotlwid ; Mussoinda frondosa, seeming at home ; a 

 scarlet-flowered Metrosideros ; a Taherncemoniana ; the Dodoima., fre- 

 quent; a Geniostomct ; and the shrubby Ph/jUanthns. A decumbent, 

 woody vine was also growing around, an lonidioid, having the habit 

 and aspect of our Celastrus scandens. 



On the 17th, the Peacock sailed from Naloa, continuing in the pas- 

 sage inside of the coral-tract; and on the 19th, arrived at Muthuata. 

 The environs of the town are chiefly unwooded and barren, with the 

 soil covered in a scattered manner with tufts of grasses. In the 

 course of our excursions in different directions, a few plants were 

 met with that were not seen elsewhere : as a (jen. Cynanchoid, a shrub 

 with linear leaves; a second shrubby species of i>e.s?/?oc7mw? ; and a 

 tree Eu]pl>orhia, at least in the size of its trunk and branches, though 

 only six to fifteen feet high. 



On the 24th, with Mr. Rich and others, I set out for the mountain- 

 crest BEHiJSiD Muthuata; "2350 feet" in extreme elevation. The 

 ascent proved steep and intricate, from the frequent necessity of 

 avoiding precipices ; and could hardly have been accomplished without 

 a native guide. At the elevation of about two thousand feet, we 

 entered a forest of small trees, affording a variety of interesting 

 plants : as Syzygiam, a tree forty feet high ; a pinnate-leaved gen. 



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