VEGETATION 



OE THE 



COASTS AND ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Since Alexander von Humboldt ranged the geography of plants amongst the 

 sciences, much has been said and written on this eminently popular and attractive 

 subject; nevertheless we must look to the future for the most interesting results 

 of the inquiries instituted. The materials of scientific value relating to the phy- 

 siognomy of vegetation, that charming and grateful study, are for the most part 

 confined to a few more or less comprehensive descriptions, and comparatively a 

 limited number of happy pictorial illustrations. Yet illustrations of that nature 

 are an essential element of a branch of science the object of which is principally an 

 immediate appeal to the eye. We still require a considerable number of faithful 

 illustrations before we shall be able to collect into one or a few folios a complete 

 series exhibiting the most prominent peculiarities of the beautiful garb in which 

 Nature has clothed our planet, like the bird in its plumage ; whilst the contem- 

 plation that wherever man penetrates he appears destined to destroy or modify 

 by cultivation this natural ornament, only tends to increase the wish for early and 

 frequent contributions towards such a collection. The following plates are in- 

 tended as such ; and before proceeding to describe them more fully I shall point 

 out the astonishing richness which Nature displays in the characteristic groupings 

 called the physiognomy of a country. 



B 



