156 



At length we cauie 



* * * " unto a land 



In which it seemed always afternoon ; 

 All lound the coast the languid air did swoon, 

 Breathing like one that hath a weary dream."* 



■We were at Perim, and what a dreary, melancholy 

 spot the isle, which looked so bright in the distance, 

 appeared now ! The only vegetation visible was the 

 gloomy mangrove tree, its tangled roots laden with sea- 

 shells and weeds, and spreading around in all directions, 

 seemed to luxuriate here, in its anomalous position, be- 

 tween high and low water mark. Some of the Lascars 

 who, from the lighthouse had been watching us approach, 

 " came round about our keel," and helped us to disem- 

 bark. Springing ashore we immediately commenced to 

 search for fossils. Had we not been enthusiastic I think 

 we should soon have given up, for it was no pleasant 

 matter to grub away in banks of heavy mud, with a 

 burning hot Indian sun beating mercilessly upon us. 



We landed at the northern end of the island, and turn- 

 ing westward, continued our explorations until we came 

 beneath the lighthouse. One of the Lascars told us that 

 the best time of the year for finding the fossils is in the 

 months of October and November, when the monsoon is 

 over, and the heavy rains and seas which have prevailed 

 during that season have either washed out fresh speci- 

 mens from the matrix in which they are imbedded, or 

 cleared away deposits of mud with wliich they are being 

 constantly covered when once loosened. The fossils we 

 discovered are for the most part very much sea-worn, 

 havhig long been rolled about on the bare beach as 

 boulder-stones. Many of them are so much disfigured as 

 completely to defy recognition, and with many it is diffi- 

 cult to arrive at a correct conclusion as to their real 



* " Lotos Eaters." — Ti'iinyson. 



