v e g e - which, though in the fame latitude, appeared fo much more dread-
k i n g d o m t^iat before we came clofe up with' it, it was fufpefted to be
an ifland of ice. T h e ihapes o f its mountains are, perhaps, the
molt ragged and pointed on the glob e ; they are covered with loads
o f fnow in the height o f fummer, almoft to the water’s edge;
whilft here and there, the fun ihining on points, which projedt into
the fea, leaves them naked, and fltews them craggy, black and difguft-
ful. We landed in Pofieflion-Bay, and found the whole Flora to con-
fift o f two fpecies o f plants, onea new plant * peculiar to the Southern
hemifphere, the other a well-known grafs; both which, by their fiarved
appearance and low ftature, denoted the wretchednefs o f the country.
However, as i f nature meant to convince us o f her power :o f
producing fomething ftill more wretched, ' we found land
about four degrees to the Southward o f this, apparently higher than
it, abfolutely covered with ice and fnow (fome detached rocks exr
cepted) and in all probability incapable o f producing a lingle plant.
Wrapt in almoft continual fogs, we could' only now and then hayeia
flight o f it, and that only o f its loweil part, an immenfe volume of
clouds conftantly refting on the fummits o f the mountains,, as though
the fight o f all its horrors would be too tremendous for mortal eyes
to behold. T h e mind indeed, ftill fhudders at the idea, and eagerly
turns from fo difgufting an object,
I. N U M -
* Anciftrujn. Foftci's Nova Genera Plantarum, -p. 3 ,4 .
169
VÉGEI
, N U M B E R , OF S P E C I E S. t a b l e
k i n g d o m
F ROM what has been faid, it appears, that the rigorous frolt in
the antarffic regions almoft precludes the germination of plants 4
that the countries in the temperate zones, being chiefly uncultivated,
produce a variety o f plants, which only want the affiftance
-of art to confine them within proper hounds j and laltly, that the
tropical ifles derive a luxuriance of vegetation from the advantage of
dimaté and culture. But the number o f vegetables is likewife
commonly proportioned to the extent o f the country. Continents'
havé therefore, at all times, been remarkable for their immenfe botanical
trealures; and, among the reft, that o f New-Holland, fo
lately examined b y Meflrs. B a n k s and S o l a n d e r , rewarded their
labors fo plentifully, that one o f its harbors obtained a name fuit-
b le to this circumftance, (Botany Bay.) Iflands only produce a
■ greatér or lefe number o f fpecies, as their circumference is more or
lefs extenfive. In this point o f view, I think both New-Zeeland
and the tropical ifles rich in vegetable prödudtions. It would be
•difficult to determine the number in the_ firft with any degree of
preeiiion, from the little opportunities We had o f examining its
riches: our acquilitions of new fpecies front thence amount to
120 and iipwai-dsi the known ones, recorded already in the works of
linnaras, are only fix, and confequently bear a trifling proportion
Z to