THE PACIFIC OCEAX. 291 



ment deposited, as has already been observed in 

 speaking of the coral islands. The little green 

 wooded islets, which serve as gateways here, as in 

 the former case, are susceptible of ready explanation. 

 Where a river empties itself, a great quantity of 

 vegetable matter, rubbish, and earth, is perpetually 

 carried down, and this would naturally be deposited 

 at the shallows on either side, where the stream 

 met the boiling waves of the Ocean. The heap 

 would very soon be raised, by accumulations, above 



i 



the surface of the tide, decomposition would take 

 place, seeds washed down would spring up, and, 

 under a tropical climate, the young soil would 

 speedily be clothed with trees and shrubs. In the 

 small isles where there is no efflux of fresh water, 

 the process would be more protracted, but not essen- 

 tially different: the current driven in through the 

 aperture would bring sea-weeds, and the floating 

 matters washed off the land, and when the soil was 

 once raised above the surface, though composed 

 of but sand and pulverized coral, the cocoa-nut 

 would grow and thrive. It is remarkable to see 

 this graceful palm rising from the very sea-sand, 

 where its roots are daily wet with salt-water, yet 

 towering to the height of seventy feet, throwing 

 out its elegant plumose fronds, and producing its 

 clusters of flowers and fruit, as luxuriantly as if 

 it were growing in the rich alluvial valleys of the 

 interior. These little fairy islets, so useful as well 

 as ornamental, give a very peculiar character to the 

 prospects from the land. " Detached from the large 

 islands, and viewed in connection with the Ocean 



