SEEDS TKANSPOUTED BY THE SEA. 245 



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 trans- 

 ported here by the waves of the sea. In accord- 

 ance with this, the Florula 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'st Travels an account is given, on 

 the authority of 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 fi'om 

 Sumatra and Java have been driven up by the suif 

 on the windward 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 intwining round its trunk, and supporting it- 

 self by the prickles on its stem ; the soap-tree ; the 

 castor-oil plant ; trunks of the sago palm ; and va- 

 rious kinds of seeds unknown to the Malays settled 

 on the islands. These are all supposed to have 

 been driven by the N.W. monsoon to the coast of 

 New Holland, and thence to these islands by the 

 S.E. trade-wind. Large masses of Java teak and 

 Yellow wood have also been found, besides im- 



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

 i., 18.38, p. 3.37. 



t Holman's Travels, vol. iv., p. 378. 



X2 



