266 THE OCEAN. 
Imagine a belt of land in the wide Ocean, not more 
than half a mile in breadth, but extending, in an 
irregular curve, to the length of ten or twenty miles 
or more: the height above the water not more than 
a yard or two at most, but clothed with a mass of 
the richest and most verdant vegetation. Here and 
there, above the general. bed of luxuriant foliage, 
rises a grove of cocoa-nut trees, waving their fea- 
thery plumes high in the air, and gracefully bending 
their tall and slender stems to the breathing of the 
pleasant trade-wind. The grove is bordered by a 
Cora Isyanp. 
narrow beach on each side, of the most glittering 
whiteness, contrasting with the beautiful azure 
