PREFACE. 
XI 
the Bread fruit; the Tarrow ( Colocasia esculenta) which 
feeds the indigent mass of the population; the Broussone- 
tia, a kind of Mulberry tree, whose inner rind, called 
tapa , affords an universal clothing. The low groves pro- 
duce the Banana, the Ginger, the Turmeric, the in- 
ebriating Kava , ( Piper methysticum ,) a kind of Arrow 
root, resembling the potato, ( Tacca ,) and the Saccharine 
Tee root, ( Dracsena terminalis ,) at the same time the best 
of portable fodder. The common timber for construct- 
ing houses, boats, various implements, and the best of 
fuel, is here the produce of a Mimosa, ( Acacia hetero - 
phylla .) For lights and oil, ihetootooe kernels (. Aleurites 
triloba) produce an excellent and inexhaustible supply; 
the cocoa-nut and the fragrant Pandanus afford delicious 
food, cordage and mats, and the very reeds, reduced in 
size, which border the rivulets, are no other than the 
precious sugar-cane of commerce. 
Leaving this favoured region of perpetual mildness, I 
now arrived on the shores of California, at Monterey. 
The early spring (March) had already spread out its 
varied carpet of flowers; all of them had to me the charm 
of novelty, and many were adorned with the most bril- 
liant and varied hues. The forest trees were new to 
my view. A #nagpie, almost like that of Europe, (but 
with a yellow bill,) chattered from the branches of an 
Oak, with leaves like those of the Holly, ( Quercus agri- 
folia .) A thorny Gooseberry, forming a small tree, ap- 
peared clad with pendulous flowers as brilliant as those 
of a Fuchsia. A new Plane tree spread its wide arms 
over the dried up rivulets. A Ceanothus, attaining the 
magnitude of a small tree, loaded with sky-blue withered 
flowers, lay on the rude wood-pile, consigned to the 
menial office of affording fuel. Already the cheerful 
mocking-bird sent forth his varied melody, with rapture 
imitating the novel notes of his neighbouring songsters. 
