292 THE OCEAN. 



rolling through the channel, on the one side, or the 

 foaming billows dashing, and roaring, and breaking 

 over the reef on the other, they appear like emerald 

 gems of the Ocean, contrasting their solitude and 

 verdant beauty with the agitated element sporting in 

 grandeur around." 



Upon the mind of a European, the sailing in a 

 small vessel through one of these sheltered lagoons 

 has a most novel and interesting effect. The shore, 

 on the one hand, presenting its shifting aspects 

 of beauty, as the boat skims past, the convol- 

 vulus and other brilliant creeping plants entwined 

 about the dark rocks, or trailing in unrestrained 

 wildness over the sands; the solemn groves, now 

 revealing their sombre and shady retreats, now pro- 

 jecting their massy foliage in full sun-light; the 

 valuable bread-fruit (Artocarpus), the light and 

 elegant aito (Casuarina), the magnificent tamanu 

 (Calhphyllum), with its glossy evergreen leaves, the 

 hutu (Barringtonia) of giant height, adorned with 

 large flowers of white and pink, are relieved by the 

 coral- tree (Erythrina), with its light-green waving 

 leaves and bunches of scarlet blossoms, and the 

 hoary foliage of the candle-nut (Alurites). The 

 cocoa-nut, always beautiful, whether growing alone 

 or in groves, but particularly pleasing when seen 

 planted around a neat white-washed cottage, in 

 company with the broad-leaved plantain or banana ; 

 the light tree-ferns displaying their elegant tracery 

 against the sky, the native chestnut {Tuscarpus), 

 rearing its stately head above its fellows, and mark- 

 ing the position of a running stream; — these and 



