AND SEEDS ON SHIP-BOARD. 
73 
charge of several coffee-plants that were sent to 
Martinico, and proved himself worthy of the 
trust. The voyage being long, and the weather 
unfavourable, they all died but one ; and the 
ship’s company being reduced to a short allow- 
ance of water, this zealous patriot divided his 
own share between himself and his precious 
charge, and happily succeeded in carrying it safe 
to Martinico, where it flourished, and was the 
parent stock whence the neighbouring islands 
were supplied. 
When I reflected upon the above causes of 
failure, it was obvious that my new method 
afforded a ready means of obviating all these 
difficulties, so far, at least, as regarded ferns 
and plants growing in similar situations ; and in 
the beginning of June, 1833, I filled two cases 
with ferns, grapes, &c., and sent them to Sydney 
under the care of my zealous friend Capt. Mal- 
lard, whose reports on their arrival, will be found 
in the Appendix. 
These cases were refilled at Sydney in Feb. 
1834, the thermometer being then between 90° 
and 1 00° in the shade. In their voyage to Eng- 
land they encountered very varying temperatures. 
The thermometer fell to 20° in rounding Cape 
Horn, and the decks were covered a foot deep 
with snow. At Rio Janeiro the thermometer 
E 
