260 SAVANNA LE MAR. 



always a pleasant sight, for it tells of cultivation and 

 human habitation in the midst of the wilderness. 



In walking through an extensive plantation of 

 Cocoa-palms, such as that one which borders the 

 beach to the west of Savanna le Mar, we are strongly 

 reminded that we are in a land remote from home. 

 It is strange to see on every side the tall straight 

 stems, like slender columns, unvaried by any other 

 vegetation, and to be canopied by the rigid pinnated 

 fronds rustling and rattling against each other as they 

 are swayed by the breeze. In common engravings 

 of tropical scenery, the Cocoa-palm has frequently a 

 flexuose character given to the stem which is not 

 natural. A double sigmoid curve is figured, very 

 graceful and pretty, to be sure, but not consistent 

 with truth ; while at other times a hanging curve is 

 given to it more like that of a fern springing out of 

 a wall than the habit of a palm. One would sup- 

 pose from these representations that the character of 

 the stem was extreme flexibility, bowed and curved 

 with every breath of wind.* Such, however, is far 

 from the case. The Cocoa-nut frequently springs 

 from the earth in a very oblique direction, but as it 

 grows it soon bends into a perpendicular, and then 

 shoots up like an arrow towards the sky. Its cha- 

 racter is rather a rigid straightness, very little subject 

 to be bent even before the strongest breeze. I have 

 seen the huge fronds toss and flutter like flags, in a 



* Thus too Southey makes Madoc describe, more elegantly than 

 correctly, the Cocoa-nut Palms of Mexico : — 



" Their tresses nodding like a crested helm." 



