Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/43

 gardens. The decided predominance of the European flora is appealed to by those geographers who claim the Azores as a natural dependency of Europe. Hence the term "Western Islands" applied to them by English mariners, as to European lands lying farther west than all others. Even the indigenous species nearly all resemble European types, so that the question arises whether they are to be regarded as independent species, or merely simple varieties gradually transformed by isolation. Nor is it any longer always possible to say with certainty whether those common also to Europe have been introduced intentionally or unconsciously, or whether they form part of the native flora assimilated by analogous surroundings.

The original flora includes not more than five trees, and five or perhaps six shrubs, all inferior in size to the allied plants in Madeira and the Canaries. The palm family, so characteristic of the tropical regions, was absent at the time of the discovery, the prevailing vegetable forms being grasses, reeds, sedge, ferns, all suitable to a moist climate. At the arrival of the Europeans the hillsides were clothed with timber. Fayal, that is the " Beech Grove," owed its name to the forests of Myrica faya, which the mariners mistook for beech-trees. Graciosa and Flores were also indebted to their beautiful flora for these appellations, and even so recently as the present century Flores still possessed magnificent groves of the yew, all of which have since been cut down. In many parts may also still be seen huge trunks almost concealed beneath the mosses and other lower growths, while others have been partly covered by the lavas. The most remarkable of the woody plants on the elevated lands are the faya, or "laurel of the Canaries," and a species of juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus) spoken of by the natives as a cedar. It is the only conifer in the archipelago, where it is found usually associated with the arborescent heaths and myrsinas of African origin.

The heights, being now destitute of fine timber, mostly present a sombre and monotonous aspect, while the ravines and lower valleys still reveal a varied and picturesque vegetation. For although large trees have nearly everywhere disappeared from the open tracts, all parts of the archipelago where the scoria had not acquired a metallic hardness are clothed with verdure. Thanks to their uniform and moist climate, the Azores are well adapted for experiments in acclimatisation. A large number of species from the tropical and temperate regions of Australia, the Old and New Worlds, have already been introduced, and thrive admirably in this "natural conservatory." Hence the taste for pleasure-grounds developed among the wealthy natives. In a few brief years they see their poplars, eucalyptuses, casuarinas springing up to a height of 40 or even 60 feet, although still seldom rivalling in size their congeners in Europe, the Canaries, and elsewhere. In the gardens of Fayal and San-Miguel the native shrubberies have been replaced by thickets in which the oak, beech, and lime of Europe intermingle their foliage with the taxodium (cypress) of Louisiana, the Virginian tulip-tree, the Brazilian araucaria, the cedars of Lebanon and the Himalayas, the camphor of Japan, the Australian acacia, and the palms of both hemispheres. The fruit-trees and cultivated plants from, the Portuguese orchards and arable lands,