Book IX. land of BARBADOS. 
r \HE Defcription of our feveral exanguious Tribes of Animals be- 
ing completed ; our next Inquiry will naturally fall upon our 
Submarine Plants. I fhall divide thefe into three Claffes: The Firft and 
moft perfeé& is the large black Sea-Rod, which often grows to the 
Height of a {mall Tree; this, as well as each of this Species, is {mooth, 
black, and fhining, of a very tough Subftance, fomewhat between Horn 
and Wood, fmelling ftrongly of the latter when burnt. ‘The Second. is 
very bufhy, feldom exceeding four Feet in Height ; its very numerous 
Branches arife almoft together from: very near the Root, and are in gene- 
ral of an equal Height and Bignefs : This differs from the naked black 
Sea-Rod, by having their Surface covered ‘with a calcareous Cruft (of 
about the Thicknefs of an Englifo Shilling), and here and there marked 
with Afterisks; the innner Texture of the Plant being of the fame Na~ 
ture as the above defcribed. The ‘Third and laft are all Kinds of Coral- 
line Bodies, 
The Larce Biacx Sea-Rop. 
FS often grows to about fifteen Feet high, and always in a con- 
i fiderable Depth of Water ; its Branches are few, but ftrong and 
tapering ; the Outfide appearing almoft as {mooth, black, and fhining, as 
Ebony; and if firft boiled in freth Water, and afterwards often oiled, 
they will be very pliable and tough, and make very beautiful Switches. 
The Lesser SEa-Rop. 
<b FiIS is a flender {mall black Rod, having a great many very {mall 
weak undivided Side-branches. This Species grows between high 
and low Water-Mark in the Clefts of Rocks, feldom rifing above five 
Foot high, 
Dddd The 
287 
