200 



forest will gradually cover everything behind the beach, except 

 localities unfit for it, as there are the basaltic rocks at Zwarte Hoek 

 and other stony places and very steep walls. Only some coco-palms, 

 planted and more or less protected by man, will in the future speak of 

 human intervention. And probably the presence of these same trees will 

 yet many a time be cited by persons, unacquainted with the history 

 of the island and with the customs of the natives, as an irrefutable 

 proof that Cocos nucifera can spread without human aid. History 

 repeats itself. And nothing has a longer life than an error. 



