Nature has blessd this Island with very few Productions either usefull for the support or conducive to the Luxury of Mankind. Partriges and Doves are the only animals except possibly rats and mice, much more probably brought here by ships. Among vegetables Purslain, Celery, Water Cresses, wild mint and Tobacco, tho now common among the rocks, I doubt much whether they were so before people came here as none except the last are found in paralel latitudes; the first indeed is found on Ascention and many Parts equ[a]ly unlikely to have originaly producd it, but that [is] accounted for by the ancient custom of the Portugese, who finding this herb particularly beneficial in complaints contracted in long voyages made a point of sewing it wherever they went

Voyaging Accounts