Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/365

] asplenium, which grows in moist places in the shade; eaten as sallad they are very tender and well-tasted.

The Resident, Henry Commans, was a man of great simplicity of manners, and very much beloved by the inhabitants. It was he whose happiness the Dutch of Amboyna described, by telling us that he might sleep as much as he pleased. We met with several persons in his house who had seen Admiral Bougainville during his stay at Bourou, and who mentioned the name of that celebrated navigator with enthusiastic admiration.

This and the following day were employed by me in surveying the different districts of this island, which presents every where a very varied and picturesque appearance. The sago tree grows here in great abundance: it forms the principal source of subsistence to the inhabitants, and affords even an article of exportation. Large plantations of it were seen near the Dutch establishment, in marshes which render this place very unhealthy, particularly in the beginning of the spring. The cayou pouti of the Malays (melaleuca latifolia), grows in great abundance upon the hills. The Resident showed us a large alembic, which he uses for distilling the leaves of this