OF THE TEAE. 11 



winds on unkindly soils ; that myriads would 

 lose their germinating powers, by falling on the 

 waters ; and he has thus enriched the plant, 

 that after all that are eaten and that are 

 wasted, there may yet be enough left to sow 

 the earth with fruits to feed us, and flowers to 

 delight us. How many, as the seeds of the 

 pea, or bean, are inclosed in pods as impervious 

 to ram, as if they were little bags of canvass ; 

 yet drying up as the seeds ripen, and, just at 

 the time when they are fit for sowing, rolhng 

 round Uke a crumpled parchment, and letting 

 their seeds fall out upon the land. See the 

 hard shell of the cocoa-nut — so hard that, 

 when we wish for the fruit within, we must 

 employ the sharpest and firmest instrument to 

 obtain it; yet it lies in the ground, and, after a 

 while, the shell opens, and a tender gre^u sprout 

 rises into the air, and grows into a goodly tree ; 

 giving its shadow to the land, and the music of 

 its waving leaves to the ocean. And why has 

 the cocoa its hard shell, but that, growing' as it 

 does near the sea, it may be fitted to swim away 

 to a distant continent ; or to the island of the 

 ocean, or the coral reef, which as yet is un- 

 clothed with vegetation ; but, in the progress of 

 years, is to present a green spot in the waste 

 of waters, where the birds of song shall find 

 shelter, and man shall come to eat the fruits of 

 the land ? So light is the down that fills the 

 thistle-tuft, that the very faintest summer breeze 

 raises its millions of feathers into the air ; and 

 let a stronger blast arise, and away the numerous 



