108 THE NOIiTTIERN MOUNTAINS. 



feet below us, tliey stood out against tlie blue sea, far up 

 toward the horizon line ; the central palm a hundred and 

 fifty feet at least, the two others, as we guessed, a hundred 

 and twenty feet or more. Their stems were perfectly straight 

 and motionless, wdiile their dark crowns, even at that dis- 

 tance, could be seen to toss and rage impatiently before the 

 rush of the strong trade-wind. The black glossy head of 

 the Balata, abnost as high aloft as they, threw off sheets of 

 spangled light, which mingled with the spangles of the 

 waves ; and, above the tree-tops, as if poised in a blue hazy 

 sky, one tiny white sail danced before the breeze. The 

 wdiole scene swam in soft sea-air; and such combined 

 grandeur and delicacy of form and of colour I never 

 beheld before. 



We rode on and downward, toward a spot where we 

 expected to find w^ater. Our Negros had lagged behind with 

 the provisions ; and, hungry and thirsty, we tethered our 

 horses to the trees at the bottom of a gully, and went down 

 through the bush toward a low cliff. As we went, if T recol- 

 lect, we found on the ground many curious pods,^ curled two 

 or three times round, something like those of a Medic, and 

 when they split, bright red inside, setting off prettily enough 

 the bright blue seeds. Some animal or other, however, 

 admired these seeds as much as we ; for they had been 



^ Pithecolobiiim (?). 



