338 



DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



J'erehinili.f ; a round-leaved Malxi ; a Mjricoid Myrsine, with an 

 Arceutliohium parasitic on its branches ; various novel cpideiidric 

 OrcliidacecB ; a gen. Rliamnac. ?, climbing by means of the young 

 branches; a MemecyJoii ? ; a Melastomokl shrub, with jointed stem; 

 two Composita?, one of them a Eupatorioid shrub, and the other her- 

 baceous and BeUis-IiJi-e ; an Eustreplius, much like the Australian spe- 

 cies; and especially, a single young stock of Dammara pine. At the 

 highest point from which the ship continued visible, we kindled a fire 

 and exchanged signals; but there was rising ground behind us, of 

 gentle inclination, covered with a continuation of the low forest, and 

 we were as much as a fourth of a mile from the extreme apex. — On 

 the 30th, in company with Messrs. Rich and Peale and two natives, 

 I visited the Western prolongation of the same mountain-crest. Fol- 

 lowing a different route, we found this portion of the crest easily ac- 

 cessible, and not much inferior in height; and from a small tree, a 

 fine view was obtained of the mountainous Interior of the island ; 

 one remarkably sharp-pointed mountain-peak and other more rounded 

 summits seeming as much as four thousand feet in elevation : an esti- 

 mate confirmed afterwards when we were leaving the Group, by the 

 dwindling of Muthuata Heights in the distant view. 



On the 1st of July, the Peacock sailed from Muthuata, returning 

 behind the coral-tract; and on the 5th, re-entered Mbua Bay. The 

 Vincennes came in a few hours later, having left Ovolau five days 

 previously, and visited Somo-Somo on the way. — On the 6th, I re- 

 joined the Vincennes ; and my subsequent botanical excursions, two 

 of which have been mentioned, Avere principally made in company 

 with Mr. Brackenridge. 



Seasons. A " cool season" is distinguished by residents, as already 

 stated ; and in the progress of vegetation, some changes became mani- 

 fest during our prolonged visit. Back of the Middle village at Mbua 

 Bay, on the 13th, after an absence of hardly five weeks, I found 

 flov/ers conspicuously more abundant on trees and shrubs; the wil- 

 low-like Acacia, which before exhibiting no signs of flowering, was 

 now everywhere in full bloom ; the scarlet-flowered Meirosideros had 

 become much more showy ; the SijmplocosdUce tree was now really 

 ornamental from the profusion of its small flowers ; and a variety of 

 shrubs, before seen only in bud, had advanced to flowering. The 

 natives, in the meantime, had been busy with agricultural operations ; 

 the banana plants had been stripped to the midrib of the leaves, and 



