Abstract
Abstract 1. Report of Dr. Is. B. Balfour. I left England upon the 1st July 1874, and embarked at Marseilles on board the Messageries Maritimes steamer. I reached Mauritius with my confrères on the 4th of August. On our arrival there we met Lieut. Neates, the head of the expedition to Rodriguez, who had come by the troopship “Elizabeth Martin” some days previously. H. M. S. "Shearwater” with the other astronomers and the astronomical instruments arrived at Mauritius on the 6th, and as there was no cause for delay there, Captain Wharton decided to sail for Rodriguez on the 11th. This was carried out, and after a week’s voyage the ship anchored in Mathurin Bay, Rodriguez, on the afternoon of Tuesday the 18th. Owing to the difficulty of carrying heavy baggage over the reefs, rendered doubly so by the neap tides which then occurred, some days elapsed ere we could take up our abode on the island. These days I spent in making an examination of the general features of the island. On the 28th of August I quitted the ship, and went to live on shore, and at once commenced my botanical and geological work. As I have already explained in my letters to the Royal Society, the flora is very scant owing to the frequency of the fires which have swept across the island. Indeed fully one half of the island is entirely bare of vegetation, save the few social weeds which now occupy the place of the destroyed indigenous plants. The only parts of the island where any amount of vegetation is to be found are the upper regions of some of the valleys, round which the fires have evidently passed, leaving them comparatively unscathed; but even here the plants are few and the dryness of the soil precludes any luxuriance. I explored thoroughly all those valleys which promised any botanical treasures, and I regret to say the result is very poor.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
The flora of Rodriguez Island is very scant because of frequent fires.
Verbatim
e2“the flora is very scant owing to the frequency of the fires which have swept across the island”
Claim · model-written summary
Fully one half of Rodriguez Island is entirely bare of vegetation, apart from a few social weeds.
Verbatim
e3“Indeed fully one half of the island is entirely bare of vegetation, save the few social weeds which now occupy the place of the destroyed indigenous plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Vegetation is found only in the upper regions of some valleys, which the fires passed around.
Verbatim
e2“the flora is very scant owing to the frequency of the fires which have swept across the island”
e4“The only parts of the island where any amount of vegetation is to be found are the upper regions of some of the valleys, round which the fires have evidently passed, leaving them comparatively unscathed”
Claim · model-written summary
Dryness of the soil precludes any luxuriance of the few plants in the valleys.
- Taxon
- plantsViridiplantaee5
- Treatment
- dryness of the soile5
- Outcome
- luxuriancee5
- Direction
- precludese5
Verbatim
e5“the plants are few and the dryness of the soil precludes any luxuriance”
Claim · model-written summary
The botanical result of exploring the valleys was very poor.
Verbatim
e2“the flora is very scant owing to the frequency of the fires which have swept across the island”
e6“I explored thoroughly all those valleys which promised any botanical treasures, and I regret to say the result is very poor”