76 Cor clomps Voyage of Discovery 



Near the rivulets or streams of water, there is common]/ 

 found in great abundance, on the ground, a plant, different 

 from the melon, but very much resembling it in the leaf; each 

 of which springs out of the ground by a separate pedicle, the 

 colour of an ordinary green ; the- pedicle, or foot-stalk, red- 

 dish ; the taste of the leaf very bitter. We also found this plant 

 in the mountain de la Cruz, having in its calyx a small scarlet 

 berry, like an unripe mulberry ; the root is long, but not thick. 

 From the properties of this plant, we called it Malva Magel- 

 lanica, 



Jn one of the bogs we examined we found a great quantity of 

 fern, resembling that which grows in Spain; and, in various 

 other places, a species of maidenhair, but very different from 

 that which grows in moist situations. 



There are also along the beach many plants, whose height 

 does not exceed two feet, with leaves as large as those of the 

 white beet. 



On the trunks of trees, and beside the channels of water, is 

 found a kind of vetch, or knot-grass, which is a plant with 

 leaves as small as those of lentils ; its stalks very broad, and of a 

 dry insipid taste. 



Also, along the sea-shore, we met with some shrubs, whose 

 leaves are very fine and delicate, resembling the willow, 

 of a bright-green colour ; the flowers scarlet and bell-shaped, 

 having in the centre three small blue petals, enclosing the calyx, 

 altogether offering a very pleasant sight to the eye. The seed 

 lies in a small sheath, like a kernel, but more slender and 

 round ; the stem is very crooked, and in general covered 

 with a coat of moss ; but the wood is neither strong nor 

 heavy. 



Near the beach is also found a large quantity of wild parsley, 

 or parsley of Macedonia, of a tolerably agreeable flavour. On 

 account of the antiscorbutic qualities of this plant, we made 

 constant use of it in our vessel ; the ship's company eating it, 

 with much advantage, both in soup and broth, and by way of 

 salad. 



In the interior of the woods we met with some plants of anise, 

 but were not so fortunate as to find its grains or seed, notwith- 

 standing that we were in the strait during the season in which 

 it is ripe. 



Great part of these woods is overrun with a plant very like 

 rosemary, but which is of a different kind : it is of various 

 heights, the tallest not being two yards; each plant being thick 

 and bushy from the ground upwards ; the leaves of a bright- 

 ^.reen, whitish in the upper surfaces, and a little downy on the 



