MARINE BOTANY. 103 



the further construction, by bursting and exfoliating the 

 mass rendered torrid by its beams at various places. It is 

 then rolled higher and higher by the fierce tides ; and thus 

 a wall is at length formed which even the stormy sea cannot 

 overstep, and behind which the fine Coral lime can collect 

 undisturbed. Here the floating seeds and fruit, which the 

 ocean currents often bring with them from distant latitude-, 

 find a suitable soil, and begin to cover the glistening lime 

 with light verdure. Trunks of trees, washed from their 

 home-forests by floods, also drift on the shores of the 

 newly-formed islands, and bear to it sma animals — in- 

 sects or lizards — as its first inhabitants. Before long palm- 



ISI9 NOBILIS. 



groves beautify the new creation, an army of marine birds 

 has collected on the new place of refuge ; and land-birds, 

 which have lost their way, revel in the shelter of the bushes 

 which grow there. Lastly, after vegetation has completed 

 its task, man makes his appearance on the scene, builds 

 his hut on the fertile soil, which fallen leaves and rolling- 

 weeds have gradually formed, and calls himself lord of this 

 small world. 



Thus, in the course of ages, have been formed all the 

 islands, connected in a link or arranged in circles, which 



