THE ORIGIN OF THE HAMMOCKS 197 



among these moist depressions that young ham- 

 mocks are developed. They range from a few 

 lonely struggling trees and shrubs to very 

 respectable forests of several hundred acres. It is 

 the best place for studying hammock development, 

 for here may be clearly seen every step of its 

 growth from the very start to the completed and 

 finished forest. 



The banks of the "banana" holes or sinks may 

 be steep, or sloping and on these damp walls 

 herbaceous vegetation grows lushly and by its 

 decay gradually forms a little soil. This prepares 

 the way and thereon the hammock usually begins 

 its career; the first to grow and become a real tree 

 is generally a live oak. 



This tree is the Achilles of the hammocks. It is 

 found always in the very front of the firing line, a 

 determined and courageous fighter. Its small 

 acorns must be carried by forest animals and in 

 the beaks of birds, for they are perfectly digest- 

 ible. One of these reaching the sloping bank of a 

 sink and finding some soil at once germinates. 

 The steep wall of the water hole partly shields it 

 from the fiery implacable enemy. One of the 

 most rapid growers among our native trees, if 



