246 CRAB-POND. 



is produced, on which one may securely walk for 

 hundreds of yards, probably in some places for miles, 

 about eighteen inches above the mud or above the 

 surface of the water when the tide is in. The 

 average thickness of these natural bows is about an 

 inch, and if stretched straight, they would hardly 

 support the weight of a man ; but their vaulted form 

 greatly increases their strength, and though they 

 frequently swerve a little under the foot, I never 

 knew one to break. 



On the branches overhead, depending from the 

 tips of the twigs, we see the no less curious seeds. 

 Each is a long club-shaped body with a bulbous base 

 and a slender point more or less drawn out. They 

 germinate and grow while attached to the parental 

 twig ; those which hang near the water gradually 

 lengthen until the tip reaches the mud, which it 

 penetrates, and thus it roots itself; those which depend 

 from the higher branches, after growing for a while, 

 drop, and then sticking in the mud throw out root- 

 lets from one end and leaves from the other. In the 

 process of growth, the roots gradually assume the 

 arched form, and raise the common centre or base of 

 the trunk considerably above the soil. 



The foliage of the Mangrove is dense and leathery, 

 and the aspect of the swamps in which it grov/s 

 sombre and dismal in the extreme. The sea-water 

 which flows among the roots, though clear, is fre- 

 quently of a dark brown colour, like strong beer ; 

 putrid exhalations continually arise from the daily 

 exposed mud, which, being prevented from dispersion 

 by the density of the foliage, load the air in these 



