446 ON DIRECTION ISLAND. [chap. xx. 



As a white cloud here and there affords a pleasing contrast 

 with the azure sky, so, in the lagoon, bands of living coral 

 darken the emerald-green water. 



The next morning, after anchoring, I went on shore on 

 Direction Island. The strip of dry land is only a few 

 hundred yards in width : on the lagoon side there is a 

 white calcareous beach, the radiation from which under 

 this sultry climate was very oppressive ; and on the outer 

 coast, a solid broad flat of coral-rock served to break the 

 violence of the open sea. Excepting near the lagoon, 

 where there is some sand, the land is entirely composed 

 of rounded fragments of coral. In such a loose, dry, 

 stony soil, the climate of the intertropical regions alone 

 could produce a vigorous vegetation. On some of the 

 smaller islets, nothing could be more elegant than the 

 manner in which the young and full-grown cocoa-nut 

 trees, without destroying each other's symmetry, 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 of 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 exceedingly limited, and 

 consists of insignificant weeds. In my collection, which 

 includes, I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, there arc 

 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 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 belong to 



