A voyage round the world

by comte Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

Turf and its qualities.

The turf, which is generally to be met with above the clay, goes up a great way in the country. From, whatever point one sets out, one could not go a league without meeting with considerable strata of it, always easy to be distinguished by the inequalities in the ground, by which some of its sides were discovered. It continually is formed from the remains of roots and plants in marshy places; which are always known by a sharp-pointed kind of rushes. This turf being taken in a bay, near our habitation, where it shews a surface of twelve feet high to the open air, gets a sufficient degree of dryness there. This was what we made use of; its smell was not disagreeable; it burnt well, and its cinders, or embers, were superior to those of sea-coals; because, by blowing them, it was as easy to light a candle as with burning coals; it was sufficient for all the works of the forge, excepting the joining of great pieces.

Plants.

All the sea-shores, and the inner parts of the isles are covered with a kind of gladiolus, or rather a species of gramen. It is of an excellent green, and is above six feet high, and serves for a retreat to seals and sea-lions: on our journies it sheltered us, as it did them. By its assistance we could take up our quarters in a moment. Its bent and united stalks, formed a thatch or roof, and its dry leaves a pretty good bed. It was likewise with this plant that we covered our houses; its stalk is sweet, nourishing, and preferred to all other food by the cattle.

Next to this great plant, the heath, the shrubs, and the gum-plant were the only objects that appeared in the fields. The other parts are covered by small plants, which, in moist ground, are more green and more substantial. The shrubs were of great use to us as fuel, and they were afterwards kept for heating the ovens, together with the heath; the red fruit of the latter attracted a great quantity of game in the season.

Resinous gum-plant.

The gum-plant, which is new and unknown in Europe, deserves a more ample description. It is of a bright green, and has nothing of the figure of a plant; one would sooner take it to be an excrescence of the earth of this colour; for it has neither stalk, branches, nor leaves—Its surface, which is convex, is of so close a texture, that nothing can be introduced between it, without tearing it. The first thing we did, was to sit down or stand upon it; it is not above a foot and a half high. It would bear us up as safely as a stone, without yielding under our weight. Its breadth is very disproportionate to its height; and I have seen some of more than six feet in diameter, without being any higher than common. Its circumference is regular only in the smaller plants, which are generally hemispherical; but when they are grown up, they are terminated by humps and cavities, without any regularity. In several parts of its surface, are drops of the size of pease, of a tough yellowish matter; which was at first called gum; but as it could not be dissolved, except by spirituous solvents, it was named a rosin. Its smell is strong, aromatic, and like that of turpentine. In order to know the inside of this plant, we cut it close to the ground, and turned it down. As we broke it, we saw that it comes from a stalk, whence an infinite number of concentric shoots arise, consisting of leaves like stars, enchased one within the other, by means of an axis common to all.

These shoots are white within, except at a little distance of the surface, where the air colours them green. When they are broken, a milky juice comes out in great abundance; which is more viscid than that of spurge[^[22]]. The stalk abounds with the juice, as do the roots, which extend horizontally; and often at some distance send forth new shoots, so that you never find one of these plants alone. It seems to like the sides of hills; and it thrives well in any exposure. It was not before the third year that we endeavoured to know its flower and seeds, both of which are very small, because we had been disappointed in our attempts to bring it over to Europe. At last, however, some seeds were brought, in order to endeavour to get possession of so singular and new a plant, which might even prove useful in physic; as its rosin had already been successfully applied to slight wounds by several sailors. One thing deserves to be observed, namely, that this plant loses its rosin by the air alone, and the washing of the rains. How can we make this agree with its quality of dissolving in spirits alone? In this state it was amazingly light, and would burn like straw.

Beer-plant.

After this extraordinary plant, we met with one of approved utility; it forms a little shrub, and sometimes creeps under the plants, and along the coast. We accidentally tasted it, and found it had a spruce taste, which put us in mind of trying to make beer of it; we had brought a quantity of melasses and malt with us; the trials we made, answered beyond expectation; and the settlers being once instructed in the process, never were in want of this liquor afterwards, which was anti-scorbutic, by the nature of the plant; it was with good success employed in baths, which were made for sick persons, who came from the sea. Its leaves are small and dentated, and of a bright green. When it is crushed between the fingers, it is reduced into a kind of meal, which is somewhat glutinous, and has an aromatic smell.