THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



methods of solving the problem, but only a sin- 

 gle goal: the conquest of the land. Even the 

 snail has acquired lungs and climbs upon the 

 palm tree. It seems as though this tree had 

 drawn them all up with itself into the free air: 

 the alga has become a palm, and has drawn the 

 snails, worms, crabs and fishes up out of the 

 water, and accustomed them to the new element. 

 But how was it that the palm came upon the 

 land, stretched its stem up into the free air and 

 spread its fan? The night has gone again, and 

 the ghostly crab people have disappeared into 

 their holes. The glare of the equatorial sun 

 pours down upon the stirring palm leaves, v/hich 

 the sea breezes move lazily. One looks away 

 between the straight stems, and thinks to see a 

 rising land and blue mountains behind them. 

 But strange, behind the thin palms there lies 

 once more a snow white streak of sandy beach. 

 Then the sun glitters once more upon the water. 

 Quiet and waveless this water lies, like a shallow 

 pond of marvelous emerald green, in which there 

 is only an occasional movement, looking like a 

 violet cloud. A sea so close to the ocean? The 

 palm beach seems merely a narrow sickle between 

 the two. The word sickle is very fitting. The 

 coast bends in, followed by the ocean, enclosing 

 this inner lake in a semi-circle. We look closely. 

 On the further side the thin line of palms closes 

 around this emerald sea. Here and there are 

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