ALONG THE MANGROVE SHORE 271 



est vegetable productions of the earth. It has 

 thick, elliptic, glossy foliage and at first it grows 

 upright, a clean stemmed tree with rough red- 

 dish bark, attaining a diameter of more than two 

 feet and a height of seventy. But it has a weak 

 root development also probably a part of the 

 scheme of its peculiar growth. Sooner or later it 

 is sure to be blown over but this causes it neither 

 injury nor inconvenience. Its wood is a dark, 

 greenish brown, with a grain more confusedly 

 locked than even that of the sycamore. Ye* it 

 is very brittle and in falling the trunk is much 

 twisted and shattered. It immediately thrusts 

 forth vigorous new growth from various parts of 

 the prostrate trunk. This may be overturned 

 again in a few years by another storm and the 

 process repeated until one can hardly tell where 

 the tree begins or ends. In many cases the 

 growth of this strange vegetable is progressive 

 and it seems slowly to work its way onward over 

 the surface of the muddy soil almost like some 

 living animal. 



The trunk becomes in time very irregular and 

 large, being composed of knotted, twisted, or 

 apparently braided strands, often as large as a 



