[6] On the 5th of April, 1834, in latitude 29° 17′ north, and longitude 42° 57′ west, temperature of the atmosphere 68° to 72°, I caught in my towing net a very fine specimen of Physalis pelagica, adorned with the usual beautiful tints, but not so vivid as I have usually seen them. The specimen was the largest I had before witnessed. During the month of April, 1834, I observed specimens of this mollusca as far north as latitude 38° 32′ north, and longitude 34° 30′ west. The lowest range of the thermometer being 58°, and highest 72°. In March, 1831, I had seen them as far north as the latitude of the Azores or Western Islands. Often when we had very strong westerly winds, with a heavy sea running at the time, I saw them; yet not, to use a nautical expression, “furling sail” and sinking; this was sufficient to prove the absurdity of the opinion that they collapse and sink during stormy breezes. I have frequently seen them capsized by a wave, but almost instantly after regain their natural position.
[7] “Praya” signifies, in the Portuguese language, “a beach or shore.”
[8] “The largest tree in the world is the Adansonia or Baobab tree, the trunk of which has been found with a diameter of thirty feet; but its height is not in proportion. It is emollient and mucilaginous in all its parts. The leaves dried and reduced to powder constitute Lalo, a favourite article with the Africans, which they mix daily with their food, for the purpose of diminishing the excessive perspiration to which they are subject in those climates; and even Europeans find it serviceable in cases of diarrhœa, fevers, and other maladies. The fruit is, perhaps, the most useful part of the tree. Its pulp is slightly acid and agreeable, and frequently eaten; while the juice is expressed from it, mixed with sugar, and constitutes a drink which is valued as a specific in putrid and pestilential fevers.”—Hooker’s Bot. Mag. 2792.
“The dried pulp is mixed with water, and administered in Egypt in dysentery. It is chiefly composed of a gum, like gum senegal, a sugary matter, starch, and an acid, which appears to be malic.”—Delile Cent. 12. Quoted in Lindley’s Int. to the Nat. Syst. of Botany.
[9] (In June, 1831.) “Canary orchilla fetches in the London market from 270l. to 290l. per ton, while that which is brought from Madeira fetches only 140l., and Barbary not more than from 30l. to 45l. The total quantity imported in 1829, amounted to 1,813 cwt. or 90½ tons.”—“Archil is generally sold in the form of cakes, but sometimes in that of moist pulp.”—M’Culloch’s Dict. of Commerce.
[10] At the time of our arrival a Portuguese brig was lying in the bay, having a cargo of this weed on board, which was estimated at a low calculation to be worth 30,000l.
[11] “The dyer’s lichen was first exported from the islands of the Archipelago to Venice, Genoa, France, and England, for the use of the dyers. Towards the commencement of the last century it was discovered in the Canary Islands, and was soon placed among the regalia of the Spanish crown. This excited the attention of the Portuguese, who collected it without restriction in the Cape de Verd Islands, Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Azores. In the year 1730, the Jesuits asked of King John V. the privilege of collecting the Hervinha secca; but the crown took the advantage into its own hands, and farmed the right of collecting it. At a later period the lichen was ceded to the mercantile company of Gram Pará and Maranhâo; and, lastly, in the year 1790, the government again took this branch of commerce under its own care, because it had declined considerably under the bad management of the company. At present the exportation is small; but more considerable, however, from the Cape de Verd Isles.” (See I. Da Silva Feijó, in the Memorias Economicas da Acad. de Lisboa, vol. v. 1815, p. 143.)—Spix and Martius Travels in Brazil, vol. i. p. 125.
[12] Abel’s Voyage to, and journey into the interior of, China. 4to. p. 6.
[13] Captain Basil Hall. See Fragments of Voyages and Travels.
[14] It would be interesting, but at the same time difficult, to ascertain where one particular species commences and another terminates, and the extent of their range. In the summer season they are found off the Cape of Good Hope, Port Jackson, and even on the banks of Newfoundland; and I have good authority for asserting that in the month of August, in even more than one year, they have been seen in Plymouth Sound.