Wilhems Plains .] 
TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
. 433 
shrubs found in the low parts of the island, appeared not to 
have been attempted, and it is certain that the cotton would not 
succeed. 
The portions of each habitation allotted to different objects of 
culture, are usually separated by a double row of some tree or shrub, 
either useful or ornamental, with a road or path running between 
the lines. Amongst the useful is the vacoua or pandanus ; whose 
leaves being strongly fibrous, long, spreading, and armed with 
prickles, both form a tolerable fence and supply a good material for 
making sacks, bags, &c. It is only whilst young that the vacoua an- 
swers this double purpose; but the tree is twelve or fifteen years before 
it arrives at maturity, and the leaves may be annually cut : no other use 
is made of the fruit than to plant it for the production of other trees. 
A double row of the tall jam b-rosa, or rose apple, makes the principal' 
divisions in some plantations, forming agreeable, shady walks ; and 
from the shelter it affords is preferred for surrounding the coffee 
trees, which require the utmost care to protect them from hurricanes. 
A tree once violently shaken, dies five or six months afterward, as it 
does if water stand several days together round its foot; sloping 
situations, where the water may run off, are therefore preferred for 
it, and if rocky they are the more advantageous, from the firmness 
which the roots thereby acquire to resist the hurricanes. Rows of 
the banana, of which the island possesses a great variety of species, 
are also planted by the sides of the paths leading through the habit- 
ations, sometimes behind the vacoua, but often alone; the pine apple 
serves the same purpose in others, as do the peach and other fruit 
trees where the paths are more considerable. A long and strong grass, 
called vilti-vert, is occasionally preferred for the lines of division ; 
this is cut twice or thrice in the year to be used as thatch, for which 
it is well adapted. Hedges of the ever-flowering China rose, and of 
the netshouly, a bushy shrub from India which prospers in every soil, 
are often used in place of the tall jamb-rosa to form alleys leading 
up to the house of the planter, and also the principal walks in his 
vol. ii. 3 K 
1805. 
September. 
