72 COAST VEGETATION. 



shrubs and clumps of trees. On one side are the ever-rest- 

 less waves of the Indian Ocean, and on the other the broad 

 reaches of the lagoon, bordered by dense vegetation, and the 

 blue line of the distant mountains of the interior in the 

 background. 



Amongst the trees of this eastern coast are several species 

 of pandanus, which form a very marked feature in the flora 

 of the shores of Madagascar, both on this and on the western 

 side of the island. The most common kind, one with a 

 branching head and aerial roots rising high above the ground, 

 occurs in dense masses all along the eastern coast. Its \o\\^ 

 tough leaves with serrated prickly edges serve many useful 

 purposes. They are made into bags for the transport of 

 sugar from Mauritius ; they are nsed to protect all kinds of 

 goods in their transit from the coast to the interior, making a 

 perfectly watertight covering for the most perishable articles ; 

 and amongst the tribes of the south-east they are the only 

 plates and dishes used by the poorer people, fresh leaves 

 being procured without any trouble for every meal. The 

 fruit of this pandanus is a hard yellow cone, with a number 

 of hexagonal facets, something like a pine-apple in shape, 

 but quite woody in texture. Another species of pandanus 

 (P. obeliscus ?) has a lofty pyramidal outline, not unlike a 

 low poplar or a larch, but with a tuft of sword-sliaped leaves 

 at the head, and frequently from forty to fifty feet high. The 

 stem is as straight as that of a fir, and the branches, which 

 grow in spiral lines round the trunk, are horizontal, with 

 leathery tips of ribbon-shaped leaves. 



A very common tree along this coast is the vdavdntalca, a 

 tree belonging to the Strychnos family of plants. It grows to 

 the size of a small apple-tree, and bears a fruit resembling in 

 size and shape a cricket-ball, and yellow in colour when ri^De. 

 On breaking the hard shell, which is about a fifth of an inch 

 in thickness, a soft yellowish-grey pulp is seen, containing a 

 number of black seeds. This pulp has a pleasant acid flavour, 

 very refreshing when travelling on a sultry day. 



A prominent feature in the vegetation of this coast is pre- 

 sented by numbers of dense but low and spreading box-like 

 trees, which cover a large extent of ground. Two species of 



