:::::::::1: THE HOT LANDS OF THE PACIFIC ;*""'■"" 



this material and one which is not subject to the attacks 

 of the boll-weevil. There is said to be a great com- 

 mercial future for this plant. It was a strange sight 

 to see a strong tree, thirty or forty feet high, with the 

 branches and twigs all tipped with overflowing bolls 

 of soft white cotton. 



Few harbours are more beautiful than this har- 

 bour of Manzanillo ; a great curving bow of blue 

 water, surrounded with low hills, with the tiny red- 

 tiled adobe houses nestled close to the shore at one 

 side. 



We chanced upon a little beach of whitest sand shut 

 in by cliffs, tunnelled and turreted by the centuries 

 of storms. Here the Red-footed Boobies fished, diving 

 magnificently just beyond the surf. California Brown 

 Pelicans watched us from tiny wave-carved islets, off- 

 shore. The foam tossed delicate lavender shells and 

 jelly-fish discs at our feet, and the cool sea-breeze blew 

 away all remembrance of the heat and dust between 

 us and our camp home. 



Gradually, day by day, so slowly as to be almost 

 imperceptible, a change came over the country. At 

 first we did not speak of it, so evanescent it seemed. 

 But its influence grew — it became a zeit-geisf, in- 

 tangible but all-pervading, infused through the air, 

 stirring plant, animal, and man. 



Earthquakes were of nightly occurrence now, and 



«4 335 #* 



