MANGROVE-LAGOONS. 247 



situations with poisonous miasmata that frequently 

 form the prolific source of disease and death. 



There seems to be a continual encroachment of 

 the land upon the sea in certain parts of the coast by 

 the agency of this tree. The Mangrove growing 

 irregularly projects its sombre shrubberies into the 

 sea in capes and points, inclosing little bays ; which 

 by the gradual growth of the encircling points, by 

 and by become lagoons, or shallow salt-lakes. On 

 the sheltered expanse of these beautiful but trea- 

 cherous lakes, the seeds of the surrounding groves 

 begin to root, and presently we see rising here 

 and there rounded clumps of Mangroves, like little 

 wooded islets spotting its broad bosom. These con- 

 tinually increase in extent, approach each other, and 

 in the course of years unite into a continuous grove. 



The unbroken silence and sheltered retirement of 

 these lagoons offer temptations to wading birds, of 

 which they are not slow to avail themselves. The 

 shallowness of the water, which often does not exceed 

 eight or ten inches in depth over a surface of many 

 acres, the abundance of marine animals that inhabit 

 the mud, and the facilities for roosting and incubation 

 tion presented by the arching roots and spreading 

 branches everywhere around, enable these semi- 

 aquatic fowl to pass their lives here in security and 

 content. The timid Water-rail, which from its 

 size, its form and colour, and its habits, so much 

 resembling those of a pullet, has received the appella- 

 tion of the Mangrove Hen {Rallus longirostris), may 

 frequently be seen slowly running over the vaulted 

 roots, or hurrying through the shallow water from 



