^)'2 THE COCAL. 



ViVit amid this laliyriiitli ^^row everywhere mighty trees 

 balatas in plenty among tliem, in every stage of decay ; 

 dying, seemingly, by gradual submergence of their roots, 

 and giving a ghastly and ragged appearance to the forest. 

 At the mouth of the little river ISTariva, a few miles down, 

 is proof positive, unless I am much mistaken, of similar 

 subsidence. For there I found trees of all sizes roseau 

 scrub among them standing rooted below high-tide mark ; 

 and killed where they grew. 



So we rode on, stopping now and then to pick up shells ; 

 chip-chips,-^ which are said to be excellent eating; a beautiful 

 purple bivalve,- to which, in almost every case, a coralline ^ 

 had attached itself, of a form quite new to me. A lash some 

 eighteen inches long, single or forked ; purplish as long " as 

 its coat of lime holding the polypes still remained, but 

 when that was rubbed off' a mere round strip of dark horn ; 

 and in iDoth cases flexible and elastic, so that it can be coiled 

 up and tied in knots ; a very curious and graceful piece of 

 Xature's workmanship. Among them were curious flat cake- 

 urchins, w4th oval holes punched in them, so brittle that, in 

 spite of all our care, they resolved themselves into the loose 

 sand of which they had been originally compact; and I 

 could therefore verify neither their genus nor their species. 



^ Tii;i;'inia. ^ Tellina rosea. 



^ XipLogovgia setacea (]\Iilne- Edwards). 



