VEGETATION OF TROPICAL WESTERN AFRICA. 21 



bays about these islands will be struck with the exquisite beauty 

 of the waters and the various forms which can be seen beneath them. 

 At 50 or 60 feet, the eye penetrates with ease : the bottom is 

 rocky and very irregular; the boat at one moment glides over 

 masses of coral-bound rock many feet below, but on which many 

 beautiful sponges and corallines can be seen ; the rest reveals 

 nothing but a cavernous depth of blue water, unless a shoal of 

 those beautiful fish of the tropics dart across. The rocks and 

 everything that is exposed to the alternate action of the tides are 

 covered with the small Mangrove Oyster; below it, seldom 

 exposed, grows a pretty crimson Coral, with it a large Flustra. 

 Gorgeous Actinice, with the common Echinus and Starfish of more 

 northern climes, abound in all the little salt pools, on these rocks. 

 The sponges are very large ; but few are sufficiently soft to be fit 

 for use. The waters are almost destitute of Alg^e; I gathered 

 but one species of IPucaceaB, and that not attached ; a small plant 

 of confervoid growth alone represents the family. 



The vegetation of Prince's Island, from its proximity to Fer- 

 nando Po, cannot, of course, be essentially different. At present 

 I have seen so little of either island, that scarcely anything like a 

 comparison can be ventured on. At Prince's Island I was at 

 once struck with the abundance of Begonias ; at Fernando Po only 

 one species (and that with yellow flowers, and therefore a question- 

 able Begonia) was seen. Some 10 or 12 species occur in Prince's 

 Island : I gathered several ; but being very juicy plants, I lost all 

 but three in drying. I fancy three of those gathered to be iden- 

 tical with B. nitida, B. ulmifolia, and B. MscJieri. Most of the 

 others were large-leaved succulent species, all having rose-coloured 

 flowers ; they grow on trees for the most part, a semiepiphytical 

 life sustained in the black soil which collects on old trees of the 

 forest. We found here an Elceis, which I fancy is distinct from 

 E. Guineensis ; the great size of some nuts which were brought 

 alongside the ship for sale first drew my attention to it. These 

 nuts were three times the size of E. Guineensis ; the trees also 

 present a different aspect, resembling more the cocoa-nut. The 

 pinnae in E. Guineensis stand out irregularly, some pendulous, 

 others erect ; in this variety they are somewhat pendulous, but all 

 regular and on one plane, as in the Cocoa-nut ; the tree is not abun- 

 dant, but grows scattered along the shore. The Baobab, not seen 

 at Fernando Po, grows pretty common at Prince's Island, also the 

 " Opakala" (a large Artocarpean) , or " Oqua" of the Eboe ; the 

 latter I secured in flower for the first time. Little marshy ground 



