Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0452
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[Page 452]
348
Some account of Savu
a drop of Rain interveening the last rainy season having intirely faild them verdure indeed there was at this time no signs of but the gentle sloping of the hills which were cleard quite to the top & planted in every part with thick groves of the fan Palm besides woods almost of Cocoa nut trees & Arecas which grew near the Sea side filld the eye so compleatly that it hardly lookd for or missd the verdure of the Earth a circumstance seldom seen in any perfection so near the line how beautifull it must appear when coverd with its springing crop of Maize Millet Indigo &c. which covers almost every foot of ground in the cultivated parts of the Island imagination can hardly conceive: the verdure of Europe set of by the stately pillars of India Palms I mean especialy the Fan palm which for stereightness & proportion both of the stem to itself & the head to the stem far excells all the Palms that I have seen requires a poetical imagination to describe & mind not unaquainted with such sights to conceive
[Margin note] Produce
The productions of this Island are Buffaloes. sheep. hogs. fowls. Horses. Asses. Maize