nothing could be more elegant than the manner in which the young and
full-grown cocoa-nut trees, without destroying each other's symmetry,
were mingled into one wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed a
border to these fairy spots.
I will now give a sketch of the natural history of these islands,
which, from its very paucity, possesses a peculiar interest. The
cocoa-nut tree, at first glance, seems to compose the whole wood; there
are however, five or six other trees. One of these grows to a very
large size, but from the extremes of softness of its wood, is useless;
another sort affords excellent timber for ship-building. Besides the
trees, the number of plants is exceedingly limited, and consists of
insignificant weeds. In my collection, which includes, I believe,
nearly the perfect Flora, there are twenty species, without reckoning a
moss, lichen, and fungus. To this number two trees must be added; one
of which was not in flower, and the other I only heard of. The latter
is a solitary tree of its kind, and grows near the beach, where,
without doubt, the one seed was thrown up by the waves. A Guilandina
also grows on only one of the islets. I do not include in the above
list the sugar-cane, banana, some other vegetables, fruit-trees, and
imported grasses. As the islands consist entirely of coral, and at one
time must have existed as mere water-washed reefs, all their
terrestrial productions must have been transported here by the waves of
the sea. In accordance with this, the Florula has quite the character
of a refuge for the destitute: Professor Henslow informs me that of the
twenty species nineteen belong to different genera, and these again to
no less than sixteen families! [1]
In Holman's [2] Travels an account is given, on the authority of Mr. A.
S. Keating, who resided twelve months on these islands, of the various
seeds and other bodies which have been known to have been washed on
shore. "Seeds and plants from Sumatra and Java have been driven up by
the surf on the windward side of the islands. Among them have been
found the Kimiri, native of Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca; the
cocoa-nut of Balci, known by its shape and size; the Dadass, which is
planted by the Malays with the pepper-vine, the latter intwining round
its trunk, and supporting itself by the prickles on its stem; the
soap-tree; the castor-oil plant; trunks of the sago palm; and various
kinds of seeds unknown to the Malays settled on the islands. These are
all supposed to have been driven by the N. W. monsoon to the coast of
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