156 REMARKS AND OPINIONS. 



we met with the plant itself only once in the group 

 of Otdia, on an island to the leeward. We ob- 

 served that the seeds which, being cast by the tide 

 over the reef, reach the inner, or lee side of an 

 island, find more protection, a better soil, and cir- 

 cumstances more favourable for their growth 

 than those which the surf throws upon the out- 

 side. 



We frequently find rolled pumice-stones among 

 the objects cast up by the sea, and compact masses 

 of the Cassi/fa, resembling those which the Zostera 

 marina forms on some of our coasts, and which are 

 called on the French coast, in the Mediterranean, 

 Ploite de mer. 



Besides the Mammalia, which the sea nourishes, 

 the dolphins, wliich the people of Radack kill only 

 singly, and very seldom, as they are not numerous 

 and powerful enough to surround them like other 

 islanders in herds, drive them into their reefs, and 

 catch them, the Cachelot*, and the more rare 

 whales, only the rat, which is everywhere spread, 

 is found in Radack, and which, as it has no enemy, 

 has increased in a dreadful degree. Kadu, who 

 seems to think that the rat is only to be found in 

 the company of man, affirms that there are none 

 in Bvgar. In the more populous groups, for in- 

 stance, in Aur, these troublesome animals are 



* We saw, in the year 1817, a Physetermacrocephalus, near 

 Radack. 



