68 TROPIC DAYS 



and are prosperously at home nowhere else. One, the 

 cannon-ball-tree, is so highly specialised that its presence 

 is but temporary, for it endures but a single set of 

 conditions — saline mud and the shade of mangroves. 

 The thick, leather}- capsule contains several irregularly 

 shaped seeds, somewhat similar to Brazil nuts, but 

 larger in size and not to be reassembled readily after 

 separation. When stranded, germination is prompt, 

 but the young plants, lacking essential conditions, 

 invariably perish. One of the trailers — the caltrops — 

 has trilobed, saw-edged leaves (harsh on both sides), 

 yellow flowers of unpleasant odour, and fruit which, 

 perhaps, formed the model of the war weapon of the 

 time of the Crusaders. In whatever position it rests 

 on the ground it presents an array of spikes to the bare 

 foot. Though all its superficial qualities are graceless, it 

 performs the admirable office of binding sand, and thus 

 prepares the way for benign and faultless vegetation. 



That his garden might not only be instructive but 

 profitable to mankind, Neptune heaved on to its verge 

 three coco-nuts, the goose-barnacles on two of which 

 bore testimony to a long drift. That which retained 

 the germ of life fell into the hands of a visiting black 

 boy, who split it open to feast on the pithy and insipid 

 "apple" within its shell at the base of the sprout. This 

 mischance ruined for the time being the prospect of a 

 fine effect; but the perseverance and prodigality of 

 Neptune none may estimate. He will certainly bring 

 from distant domain another nut which may escape the 

 observation of the never-to-be-satisfied black boys until 

 the young plant itself has assimilated its concentrated 

 food, and begins to spread its glossy fronds in the face 

 of the sun. In the meantime the garden displays four 

 weeds, two of the nature of pests, two of discomfort 

 merely; ornamental, scented, and flowering shrubs, and 



