132 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



are as good as indigenous, while the vanilla and the 

 true gum copal abound in many spots. 



Along the seashore grows the cocoa palm, forming 

 a fringe of golden green between the waves and the 

 forest barrier. This palm seems to delight in the 

 society of man, and is the most sociable tree to be 

 found in the tropics. It was originally a stranger 

 here, like myself, but in the course of centuries has 

 become thoroughly acchmated. Like myself, too, it 

 owed its presence here to a caprice of the sea. Long 

 ages ago, perhaps, a single nut came dancing on the 

 crests of the waves, having voyaged hither from the far 

 Orient — from India or Ceylon. Advancing, reced- 

 ing, it neared the strand, was tossed upon the beach ; 

 a hurricane sent it over the ridge into a safe haven, 

 where it sank into a hollow, and there performed its 

 mission by sending rootlets into the sands and a pair 

 of plumules skyward. 



Other nuts may have been sent to join it ; but at 

 all events the result has been groves of cocoa trees, 

 which form living barriers between the sea sands and 

 the meadow land. Loving salt water as it does, the 

 cocoa palm stays near the coast, where it can be seen 

 to the best advantage, and where its treasures are 

 most accessible. 



The trees gave me shade and comfort, for not only 

 was my favorite promenade beneath their crowns and 

 between their stems, of a morning and an evening, 

 but I drew a great deal of sustenance from their fruit. 

 The great clusters of golden-green nuts hanging high, 

 it was next to impossible for me to climb to them, so 



