114 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



they have time to assume an aged look. They are 

 seen inclining toward the waves of the ocean, as if 

 they desired to drink the tepid and saline waters. 



The strange plant which we present in the accom- 

 panying illustration, belongs to the family of screw- 

 pines (Pandanaceae), of which Senegambia is the fa- 

 vorite country, but which is also found in Polynesia, in 

 New Zealand, and in Guinea. M. de Folin, who has 

 drawn it from nature, gives the following details re- 

 specting it, as he observed it in Prince's Island, thirty 

 hours' sail from the Guinea coast and 1 30 ]S". Lat : 



" A stream that falls from the steep cliffs of the isl- 

 and, dashing its silvery waves from rock to rock, 

 keeps up a constant moisture in a narrow valley, 

 where the heat of the rays of the sun that beat all day 

 upon the cliffs on each side, is reflected and concen- 

 trated. The warm moist atmosphere, due to these 

 causes, maintains a most vigorous vegetation at the 

 foot of the valley. The screw-pine grows at a spot 

 where the gorge widens, and the torrent, spreading 

 out into a limpid lake, pauses for a moment before 

 flowing forth to fall into the sea. 



This strange tree, with its slender supports, its bare 

 branches, gracefully inclining toward the horizon, 

 and spreading out its enormous fans and diadems 

 of beautiful leaves, has the most airy appearance. 



Masses of young shoots and of aquatic plants are 

 grouped around each trunk and reflected in the water 

 that furnishes the screw-pine its home and its sup- 

 port. 



The weirdness of the strange scene is heightened 



