THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. -03 



shadow they arc sheltered from the vertical sun. 

 The coast is broken iuto numerous little bays and 

 coves, some penetrating far into the island, like 

 canals among the plantations. A multitude of little 

 islets are scattered around on the surface of the sea, 

 on many of which the cattle are grazing on the rich 

 and succulent pasture. Some of them, however, 

 are little more than accumulations of sand, formed 

 of powdered cortil and sea-shells, and affording sup- 

 port only to some coarse sedges, and to mangrove- 

 trees. The latter, indeed, delights in such situations, 

 flourishing at the very edge of the sea, and even 

 where the ground is continually liable to inundation. 

 The contorted roots of this tree grow to a consider- 

 able extent above the soil, so that the base of the 

 trunk is elevated on a cone of matted roots, through 

 which the water washes, while from the branches 

 young twigs are perpetually shooting downward, till, 

 reaching the soil, they take root, and send forth 

 other shoots : thus, in a few years, a single plant will 

 spread into a grove, and cover a large space of land. 

 As we sail with tortuous course through these delight- 

 ful groups of ever-verdant isles, fresh scenes of beauty 

 are continually rising before us. Now a conical hill, 

 of regular form, arrests the attention, clothed with 

 thick foliage from the water's edge to the sunnuit, 

 where the white clouds appear to rest : then we 

 admire the irregular surface of another isle, whose 

 dark ravines seem to acquire additional gloom from 

 the glowing sunlight that plays upon the surrounding 

 eminences : here a little islet of bright green looks in 

 the blue sea like an emerald set in sapphire ; there 



