on some Bahama Birds.



55



Professor Agassiz, of wind and waved-tossed coral sand, which,

having been left high and dry by the action of the tides and

currents on the shallow banks, has been converted into solid

rock. Owing to this formation, there is no high land in the

group, and a considerable portion of many of the islands lies

below the level of the sea. In most cases there is a seaward

ridge, which shuts out the sea altogether. In other cases a

subterranean passage exists, so that large tracts of country are

converted into lakes that rise and fall with the tide, leaving a

rich feast along their banks for many species of birds ; finally in

other cases breaks occur in the ridge, forming narrow channels or

creeks, which open out, behind this barrier, into large branching

and shallow lagoons, so that the whole country for miles round

becomes a mere mass of scattered islands, and enormous tracts

of swamp are laid bare with each tide. Along some of these

lagoons a boat can go, but, as the} 7 are for the most part entirely

unexplored, one is very liable to be stranded by the falling tide ;

the most satisfactory way of getting about is to wade, there being

but few places where the water is more than thirty inches deep and

as an average it would barely exceed six inches. The bottom

consists of rough rock, covered with weed or mud, and though

the walking is of the worst, it is not treacherous. The adapta¬

bility of plants to their localities is nowhere better exemplified

than in these islands. Were the rock and soil that is found there

to be brought over to this country, I doubt if even our hardiest

seeds would succeed in establishing themselves. In that country,

however, it is different, and wherever land is found sufficiently

elevated to be beyond the reach of the high tides and heavy

floods, there the luxurious coppet flourishes. At a lower eleva¬

tion (we are only dealing with elevations of inches ! ! !) in country

flooded by the heavy rains of the wet season we find a thick tangle

of coarse grass and palmetto, the latter a most useful tree,

without which the explorer in these parts might fare badly, for it

formed, on occasions, our shelter, bed, fan, tinder, string, etc.,

and the number of uses to which the natives can put it is

practically unlimited. Lastly, in those places which are covered

every tide, grows the universal mangrove, stretching out often

for a mile or more in an unbroken even line about two feet high,



