48 



PEEL ISLAND. 



more accurately ; it is confined to the immediate vicinity of the sea. The fore- 

 ground of our illustration exhibits the loose deep sand of the shore, in which 

 about this season numerous tortoises belonging to a large species of Chelonia 

 bury their eggs. Different kinds of bushy herbs begin to appear where the sand 

 merges into the more fertile soil of the island ; one of them resembles our 

 Melissas, the other have pretty pinnated or lobed leaves. Close by we see similar 

 bushes, but of larger dimensions, of the Sccevola Kcenigii y the acquaintance of 

 which we already made in the Carolines. The largest tree in the foreground 



^ 3 ^ ^ affords a striking instance of the deviations in habit which one and the 



same species of plant (or animal) exhibits in widely separated and different climates 

 of these islands. This tree is a Terminalia, and, according to Mertens' conviction, 

 identical with what was believed to be Terminalia Catappa of Ualan and Guaham. 

 In the first of these two islands, the tree has a slender, nearly always striking 

 habit, whorls of horizontal branches diverging from the straight stems, like so many 

 stories. In Guaham this habit becomes less regular, and here the stem is 

 divided into several, and the whole assumes a habit not in the slightest degree re- 

 minding us of the former.* In Ualan the tree occurs isolated, in Guaham in small 

 groups ; here it covers whole districts of the plains immediately adjoining the sandy 

 sea-shores. Its foliage seems to have appeared in the first days of May, and de- 

 veloped itself rapidly from day to day ; for, notwithstanding the mild climate of this 

 island, there were, on the whole, many trees which began to get green very late. 

 Seen from a distance, the fine forest, which covers the whole island, with the 

 exception of such plains near the shores, is characterised by beautiful palms, every- 

 where projecting. They belong to two very different species ; the isolated cocoa- 

 nut palm, seen close to the landing-place, has probably got there by some accident, 

 and can scarcely be regarded as indigenous. But abundant throughout is a fine 

 large fan-palm {Corypha Japonicaf) (3 c), which forms a striking contrast with 



the slender-growing Areea ^2 ^ | 4 crowding the slopes of the hills. 



* The author doubtless here confounds several liar ; nor do its leaves undergo such fine changes 



distinct species. The habit of Terminalia Catappa of colour as those of the well-known Terminalia 



is certainly very striking and regular, but that of Catappa. See my official " Eeport on the Vege- 



the species so common on the beaches of these regions table Productions and Resources of the Vitian or 



(I have not yet determined the species with any Fijian Islands, addressed to His Grace the Duke of 



degree of certainty), though occasionally assuming a Newcastle." — Berthold Seemann. 

 similar habit, is generally less regular and pecu- 



