ON THE SEA-SHORE. 241 



shore. In addition to these there are floating 

 islands, bushes and trunks of trees, all of which go 

 to help in collecting the other deposits and binding 

 them together. But even with all these the result 

 would probably be only a series of mudbanks had 

 not the courida and mangrove come to the rescue. 



The courida, which was confounded with the 

 mangrove by old writers (who represented its 

 fruit as falling into the water and changing into 

 barnacle geese), is perhaps unique in its contrivance 

 for making islands and extending muddy shores. 

 At one time it must have supported itself in the 

 ooze by aerial roots, which probably, like those of 

 the mangrove, grew out from the trunk, and 

 extended outwards and downwards to form props 

 or buttresses. That this was certainly the case is 

 shown by excrescences on the trunk, which throw 

 out extensions that hang downwards for two or 

 three feet and then stop. Even did they reach the 

 mud they are obviously too weak to be of much 

 use, but when we appreciate the fact that they are 

 now nothing less than miniature representations of 

 what once were great branching extensions, we can 

 easily understand their original purpose. 



Looking closer, we can also observe the reason 

 why the courida no longer requires such buttresses. 



Let us walk along the shore at low water and enter 



16 



