VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.

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feerns to defcend, by a multitude of intermediary degrees, to the vegetable earth itfelf.On expofing this earth to the aftion of a violent fire, it fhortly affumes a very deepred-ochre colour; a confequence, no doubt, of the increafed oxidation of the iron,in almoft a metallic ftate, contained in the unchanged bafalt.

Fertility of the Soil .'] “ Whatever the origin of this vegetable earth, it is of excel-lent quality ; and, wherever of fufficient depth, the progrefs and flrength of vegetationis extraordinarily great, and the number of plants cultivated with fuccefs on theifland is in confequence truly prodigious : what is moll remarkable, in midft of fucha profufion, almoft all thefe vegetables are exotic, yet naturalized have all equallyfucceeded. In order to form a juft idea of this fertility in the country we are deferr-ing, a vifit to the garden of the Government, in the plain of the Pamplemouffes, isindifpenfable. Here it is that the refpectable M. Cere, in the fpace of thirty years,,has fucceeded in naturalizing an incredible number of trees and fhrubs, brought, fomefrom the burning plains of Africa , others from the humid Ihores of Madagafcar,others from China and Pega, and others again from the banks of the Indus and theGanges ; many are indigenous of the fummits of the Ghauts, others of the exuberantvallies of Cafhemire ; moll of the iflands of the great archipelago of Afia, Java, Su-matra, Ceylon, Bornea, the Moluccas, the Philippines, even Otaheite , have been putunder contribution, to encreafe the vegetable wealth and ornament of this garden ;■the Canaries, the Azores , have offered their tribute; the orchards and fhrubberies ofEurope, and the forefts of America , in the fame view, have been robbed of theircharms : here many of the productions of Arabia, of Perfia, Brazil , the coaft ofGuinea , and Caffraria, fpring into life and breathe a foreign air ; and we ourfelvesenlarged its ftore by numerous fpecimens of the lingular vegetables from the foreftsof Auftral climes. Here, wandering through long and filent alleys, are feen col-lected all thefe precious guefts, aftoniftied to find themfelves the inmates of ourhome : how fweet the fenfation I experienced, on contemplating the teak-tree, coloffallord of the equinoxial woods, whofe timber forms the almoft imperiftiable ftsips of India !the bread-fruit tree, whofe favoury food fupports the nations of the great equatorialocean; the rafia of Madagafcar, that valuable palm, which yields the delicate andcorroborative fago; the nutmeg-tree, which, ravifhed by the refpeclable M. Pouvrefrom its natal foil, will fhortly releafe us from the tribute we yet pay to the Dutch;the clove-tree, whofe numberlefs fruit of a beautiful rofy hue, produce fuch a fineeffect, and which already yields more than a fufficient fupply of cloves for the con-fumption of our iflands ; the badamier, with large leaves of a mild green, which re-frefhens the fight, and which bears a finall elongated almond of more delicate flavorthan our fineft walnuts ; the ebony-tree, to which we are indebted for a wood of fbmuch value in the arts, fo precious on account of the beautiful polifh it takes, and itsfhining black colour; the Pamplemouffe-tree, the fruit of which is a kind of orangeof the fize of a fmall melon, and its rind made into excellent fweetmeats; the tama-rind-tree, the pads of which yield that fweetly tart pulp fo ufeful and fo grateful as amedicine ; the dwarf orange-tree of China , only a foot in height, bearing fruit the fizeof the coffee-berry, and which, like that, is diftinguifhed by its- grateful lemon odour;the. Hymenea, a charming tree, whofe leaves oppofed in pairs, fymbol of a happy/union, feem conftantly inclined to join each other; the areca-tree, whofe elegantftern rifes aloft, and produces thofe elements of areca nuts fo much in requeft forthe mafticators of betel, of which they form the effential bafe; the carambolier, thefruit of which has four falient fides, and contains abundant juice of a flightly acid-ulous tafte ; the jaquier, a counterpart of the bread-fruit-tree, which throws out, the8 whole

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