CHAPTER XII 



THE FLORA OF THE TURKS ISLANDS 



We come now to an account of the flora of the Turks Islands. 

 The vegetation is generally sparse and may be described as " scrub," 

 the soil being sandy and loamy and containing usually but little 

 humus. Different " cultivations " have been from time to time 

 carried on in the larger cays, especially on Grand Turk. But the 

 cultivated plants are few that will thrive in a sandy and often saline 

 soil, and, except for the clearances of the mangroves bordering the 

 lagoons and creeks in the construction of salt-pans, the botanist 

 will not find great difficulty in restoring much of the indigenous 

 flora of the large inhabited islands. In this he will be assisted by 

 the examination of the smaller uninhabited cays, and it is to these 

 smaller islands that my remarks will at first apply. Though goats 

 have been allowed to run wild on most of them at one time and another, 

 this practice had been largely discontinued at the time of my visit 

 in 1911. Their presence might account for small-seeded weeds like 

 Portulaca oleracea, etc., and might explain to some extent the scarcity 

 of fleshy beach plants like Sccevola plumieri on the lesser cays; 

 but otherwise I should not imagine that through their agency the 

 original features of the flora, as presented in the smaller islands, 

 have been much obscured. 



In an extract from the Annual Register of 1764 given by Com- 

 missioner Watkins in his report on the history of the salt industry 

 of these islands, we read that they are " sandy and barren with very 

 little, if any, fresh-water, without any vegetables except low shrubs, 

 or any animals except lizards, guanas, and land-crabs." Though 

 this reference was made more than a century after the Bermudian 

 salt-rakers began to visit the group, it was not until about 1678 that 

 they commenced systematic salt-raking during their annual sojourns 

 from March to November. It is a testimony to the obdurate nature 

 of the soil and to the difficulty of Nature's task in stocking these 

 islands with plants that so little has been effected since they were 

 first occupied by Europeans. Of course, in the larger inhabited 

 islands of Grand Turk and Salt Cay man has done something to 

 alleviate these conditions. But still their soil is not fit for raising 

 much else than sweet potatoes, guinea corn, and plants that thrive 

 in poor ground. For their fruits and vegetables the Turks Islanders 

 are almost entirely dependent on outside supplies. Yet, notwith- 

 standing the provision of government-ponds and tanks to hold the 

 rain-water, great inconvenience is often experienced during the dry 



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