Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0695
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 695]
591.
Some account of St Helena
ashore a custom from whence all nations have since reapd no small benefit. amongst its native products however Ebony must be recond tho the trees that produce it are now nearly extinct & no one remembers the time when they were at all plentifull yet peices of the wood are frequently found in the vallies of a fine black Colour & a hardness almost equal to Iron these however are almost always so short & so crooked that no use has yet been made of them Whether the tree is the same as that which produces Ebony on the Isle of Bourbon & its adjacent Islands is impossible to know as the french have not yet publishd any account of it other species of trees & plants which seem to have been originaly natives of the Island are few in number insects there are also a few & one species of Snails who inhabit only the tops of the Highest ridges & probably have been there ever since their original creation