THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 991 
ment deposited, as has already been observed in 
speaking of the coral islands. The little green 
wooded islets, which serve as gateways here, as in 
the former case, are susceptible of ready explanation. 
Where a river empties itself, a great quantity of 
vegetable matter, rubbish, and earth, is perpetually 
carried down, and this would naturally be deposited 
at the shallows on either side, where the stream 
met the boiling waves of the Ocean. The heap 
would very soon be raised, by accumulations, above 
the surface of the tide, decomposition would take 
place, seeds washed down would spring up, and, 
under a tropical climate, the young soil would 
speedily be clothed with trees and-shrubs. In the 
small isles where there is no efflux of fresh water, 
the process would be more protracted, but not essen- 
tially different: the current driven in through the 
aperture would bring sea-weeds, and the floating 
matters washed off the land, and when the soil was 
once raised above the surface, though composed 
of but sand and pulverized coral, the cocoa-nut 
would grow and thrive. It is remarkable to see 
this graceful palm rising from the very sea-sand, 
where its roots are daily wet with salt-water, yet 
towering to the height of seventy feet, throwing 
out its elegant plumose fronds, and producing its 
clusters of flowers and fruit, as luxuriantly as if 
it were growing in the rich alluvial valleys of the 
interior. These little fairy islets, so useful as well 
as ornamental, give a very peculiar character to the 
prospects from the land. “Detached from the large 
islands, and viewed in connection with the Ocean 
