160 Letter XI. 
but when the fierceness of the storm and the angry lashing 
of the waves are over—when there is left nothing but the great 
rolling swell—then you will see the breakers in perfection. 
They approach the shore with slow and stately majesty, and 
rising like a great wall of glass, they gently bow their crests, 
and then fall with a mighty hiss and a roar asof thunder; whilethe 
shattered foam, white as snow, flies up into the air like the 
ashes of a volcano. If the breaker strikes the shore obliquely 
the effect is very grand, for then it commences to break at one 
end, and rolls along the line with regular motion and a steady 
continuous roar, like the running fire of a well-trained regiment. 
Often on a warm afternoon I have sat down in the shade and 
watched the grandeur of ‘‘the green breakers and the wind- 
tossed foam,” till the slanting rays of the sun warned me to 
escape from the miasma of the night air. 
From the sea-beach here, the land rises gently to the top of 
a lofty mountain, the whole of which is clothed with a thick 
unbroken forest of tropical luxuriance. Down from the moun- 
tain there flow many little streams of clear cool water, two of 
which enter the sea close to the mission house. Many a ram- 
ble I have had into these forests, often accompanied by the 
good missionary and his wife, occasionally by a native boy as 
guide. Sometimes we would go to visit a native village nest- 
ling under the branches of great trees. Sometimes we followed 
a winding path up the valley of a stream, with the fern trees 
forty feet high overhanging it, and the ground ferns in endless 
variety clothing its banks. What lovely little bits of scenery. 
we saw ; what subjects for an artist—what shady nooks for pic- 
nics — what noble trees and curious creepers were there ! 
These forests were a source of never-failing interest and enjoy- 
ment. Amongst the other trees, a species of banyan grows— 
an immense tree, with handsome foliage. Under it the natives 
make their public square for feasts and dances, and also erect 
