PACIFIC BEERING’S STRAIT. 
97 
trees have thriven but partially, arriving at a certain growth, and then CHAP, 
stopping. A tree of this kind, which was the largest in the island, 
measured, at the time of our visit, twelve feet in circumference ; another Dec- 
Was nine feet seven and a half inches in girth, at five feet from the 
root ; its trunk grew to the height of thirty feet, perfectly straight, and 
without branching. 
The banyan is one of those large spreading trees common in India. 
N^ature has been so provident to this island that there are very few 
trees in it which cannot be turned to account in some way, and this tree, 
though it yields no fruit, and produces wood so hard and heavy as to 
be unserviceable, stiU contributes to the assistance of the islanders, by 
supplying them with a resin for the seams of their boats, &c. This 
Useful substance is procured by perforating the bark of the tree, and 
extracting the liquor which exudes through the aperture. 
We saw dyes of three colours only in Pitcairn Island, yellow, red, 
and browm. The yellow is procured from the inner bark of the root 
of the nono tree ( morinda citrifolia ) , and also from the root of a species 
of ginger. We did not see this plant growing, but it was described as 
having leaves broader and longer than the common ginger, a thicker 
^oot in proportion to its length, a darker hue, and not so tubercular. 
The red dye is procured from the inner bark of the doodoe tree, and may 
have its intensity varied by more or less exposure to the rays of the 
sun while drying. These dyes are well coloured, but for w^ant of proper 
mordants the natives cannot fix them, and they must be renewed 
every time the linen is washed. The method of producing the brown 
fiye has already been described. 
The temperate climate of Pitcairn Island is extremely favourable 
to vegetation, and agriculture is attended with comparatively light 
labour. But as the population is increasing, and wants are generated 
which were before unthought of, the natives find it necessary to improve 
their mode of culture ; and for this purpose they make use of sea-weed as 
manure. They grow but one crop in a year of each kind. The time of 
taking up the yams, &c. is about April. The land is not allowed time 
to recover itself, but is planted again immediately. Experience has 
enabled them to estimate, with tolerable precision, the quantity that 
o 
