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A BOTANICAL TOUU AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 133
harboui", wbei*e I again had an opporhmity of going ashore, and afterwards
across to Pango Bay, in the neighbourhood of which I was very successful in
my botanical discoveries. Mr. Kosh, a missionary, who resides there—the
only one in Vate—kindly sent out with me some natives as guides, and they
took me some six or seven miles inland. Dui'ing my walk I found several
splendid varieties of Hibiscus, two of which for their immense gorgeous flowers
and compact liabit arc, I venture to say, the most beautiful of the genus ever
yet discovered. The larger flowering variety is of a glowing scarlet colour,
the flowers averaging seven inches in diameter, and from the manner in which
the petals overlap each other, each flower is suggestive of a perfectly double
Camellia. I found this inland, about five miles at the foot of a ridge, beside a
group of Casuarina equisetifolia. The bright scarlet of its immense flowers
contrasted with its vivid green foliage, and, added to its vei'y compact habit,
render it a truly noble object, justly meriting, as its popular name, the not
very inappropriate one of " the Cliallenger Hibiscus." The scientific name
must be Hibiscus Lambertii, in lionour of the Commodore. The flowers of
the other species are of a beautiful bright vermilion, the petals aro double,
after the style of the Anemone, and it is quite as large as a fah'-sized Dahlia.
This I have named Hibiscus fFriffJdii, in honour of Mr. Wright, of Hunter's
Hill, Pai-amatta River, to whom I feel indebted for its discovery, he having
visited Pango Bay, where he saw it some three or four years ago. I regretted
much that my native guides would not venture further than a few miles inland
from the Pango Bay side. One of them, a Rarotongan native teacher, who
could speak good English, told me that to go further would be " to never
return," as the natives were great cannibals, and exceedingly savage towards
white men. Returning by a different track, we passed through some forests of
CalopJiyllum, and through some extensive plantations of the Cassava root of
Western America {Jatropha Matiihot), and Tacca pinnatifida, of whicli the
natives make arrowroot. Passhig through a thicket, consisting principally of
Anacardiaceous, Myrtaceous, and Araliaceous plants, we suddenly came upon
a native village, in which an Amaranthus, prettily variegated, an Aralia and
an JSvodiu, were growing in quantity around the houses. All are used medicinally,
particularly the latter, which is remarkable for its strong perfume
Tills plant is to be found almost in every village throughout Polynesia. It has,
I think, been introduced into the other islands from the Samoas and the Fijis.
Along the coast the vegetation principally consists of several species of
Taiir/hinia, Pamlanus, Excoecaria, HIernandia, Cocos, Paritium, Calophyllum,
and others. The under-scrub was not so dense near the coast as I had found
it at Havannah harbour. It consisted'of several genera of Compositce, of which
the more conspicuous were a WoUastonia, with pretty yellow flowers, and a
Cineraria. Many varieties of DraccEiia (of which genus I must here remark I
have seen upwards of a hundred varieties during the cruise, and of which more
than fifty were green-leafed), a Greicia, and a Jasmine, while a Portulaca
and a Talinum, together with Ipomcea maritima, and several others carpeted
the sandy beach in many places.
Port de France (Noumea), New Caledonia, was the last port we visited pre-