454 KEELING ISLAND. [chap, xx 



metry, were mingled into one wood. A beach of glittering white 

 sand formed a border to these fairy spots. 



I will now give a sketch of the natural history of these islands, 

 which, from its very paucity, possesses a peculiar interest. The 

 cocoa-nut tree, at the first glance, seems to compose the whole 

 wood ; there are, however, five or six other trees. One oi 

 these grows to a very large size, but, from the extreme softness 

 of its wood, is useless ; another sort affords excellent timber for 

 ship-building. Besides the trees, the number of plants is exceed- 

 ingly limited, and consists of insignificant weeds. In my collec- 

 tion, which includes, I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, there 

 are twenty species, without reckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus. 

 To this number two trees must be added ; one of which was not 

 in flower, and the other I only heard of. The latter is a solitary 

 tree of its kind, and grows near the beach, where, without doubt, 

 the one seed was thrown up by the waves. A Guilandina also 

 grows on only one of the islets. I do not include in the above 

 list the sugar-cane, banana, some other vegetables, fruit-trees, 

 and imported grasses. As the islands consist entirely of coral, 

 and at one time must have existed as mere water-washed reefs, 

 all their terrestrial productions must have been transported here 

 by the waves of the sea. In accordance with this, the Florida 

 has quite the character of a refuge for the destitute : Professor 

 Henslow informs me that of the twenty species nineteen be- 

 long to different genera, and these again to no less than sixteen 

 families !* 



In Holman'sf Travels an account is given, on the authority 

 r)f Mr. A. S. Keating, who resided twelve months on these 

 islands, of the various seeds and other bodies which have been 

 known to have been washed on shore. " Seeds and plants from 

 Sumatra and Java have been driven up by the surf on the wind- 

 ward side of the islands. Among them have been found the 

 Kimiri, native of Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca ; the 

 cocoa-nut of Balci, known by its shape and size ; the Dadass, 

 which is planted by the Malays with the pepper-vine, the latter 

 int wining round its trunk, and supporting itself by the prickles 



* These plants are described in the Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. i., 1S38 

 p 337. 



f Holman s Travels, vol. iv. p 378. 



