DRIFT-LOGS. 201 



of wliite surf and grey spray ; or, turning the eyes inland 

 toward tlie lagoon, at dark masses of mangrove, above which 

 rise, black and awful, the dying balatas, stag-headed, blasted, 

 tottering to their fall ; and all as through an atmosphere of 

 Rhine wine, or from the inside of a topaz. 



We rode along, mile after mile, wondering at many things. 

 First, the innumerable dry fruits of Timit palm, wliich 

 lay everywhere; mostly single, some double, a few treble, 

 from coalition, I suppose, of the three carpels which every 

 female palm flower ought to have, but of which it usually 

 develops only one. They may have been brought down the 

 lagoon from inland by floods ; but the common belief is, that 

 most of them come from the Oroonoco itself, as do also the 

 mighty logs which lie about the beach in every stage of wear 

 and tear ; and which, as fast as they are cut up and carried 

 away, are replaced by fresh ones. Some of these trees may 

 actually come from the mainland, and, drifting into this curv- 

 ing bay, be driven on shore by the incessant trade- wind. But 

 I suspect that many of them are the produce of the island 

 itself; and more, that they have grown, some of them, on 

 the very spot where they now lie. For there are, I think, 

 evidences of subsidence going on along this coast. Inside 

 tlie Cocal, tAvo hundred yards to the westward, stretches 

 inland a labyrinth of lagoons and mangrove swamps, impass- 

 able to most creatures save alligators and boa-constrictors. 



