Page:Narrative of a Voyage around the World - 1843.djvu/242

188 their luxuriance, than either their richness in variety or value in cultivation; a handsome flora, with but few peculiarities, consisting chiefly of those soft-wooded plants generally inhabiting the moist regions of the tropics. The greater part of its productions are comprised in the natural orders of the Malvaceæ, Palmæ, and the low tribes of Foliaceæ or Cryptogamia. Bombax heptaphyllum is the largest tree which came under my notice: the wood of all the species is light and soft as in Malvaceæ.

"Hibiscus gossypinus and H.palmatus are abundant. Melastoma, a remarkably handsome genera purely tropical, is here represented by M. grosa and parviflora. Of palms a few only are found here; those which came under my notice belonged to the genus of Diplothemium, but were not in flower. A variety of cryptogamous plants abound, but few were in flower during our visit. The most deserving of notice is Diplagium auriculatum, a specimen of which I measured, and found the stem to be thirty-four inches in circumference ; unusually large for that species of fern." We felled one of the Bombax heptaphyllum, eighteen inches diameter and forty feet in length, intending to try it for boat plank. Its bark dyed our decks a deep red brown. Unfortunately it was thrown away before any experiments were tried on it as a dye. The wood split freely in the direction of its length, and was useless.

Fish are abundant in Chatham Bay, but were not