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16 



troy its marine character, and convert it into a dry veg- table 

 soil, capable, as I believe it was not before, of supporting 

 forest, and to such an extent does it alter it, that when it 

 has lasted two generations on one spot, the soil on moister 

 places may be dug, and is, to a great extent, and burned as 

 peat in lime kilns. After it has perfected this function, it dies 

 out, and as the land rises, is succeeded by other vegetation. 



Near the sea we find no forest grows on lands other than 

 corresponding to that covered by the cocoanut and other 

 coast plants along the sea bord ; and as we proceed inland, 

 we find that soil unsuited for these plants remains bare and 

 grass covered, till it becomes patina land on some moun- 

 tain side. 



The economical function of these coast plants &c, may 

 be merely owing to their seizing on ground fitted for trees, 

 but it seems probable that they themselves are the means of 

 so chemically altering the soil as to enable it to sustain forest 

 vegetation, while the lagoon and hollow estuary, on which 

 they never grew, preserve through all stages the character 

 of open grassy glades or plains. 



The wonderful provision we have in this special vege- 

 tation, must be felt by any native cultivator, when he re- 

 flects that otherwise a years fallow would so choke his field 

 with chena, as to render it difficult to plough, and thus year 

 after a year his arable land would lessen, untill his descend- 

 ants ceased to till the ground at all. Nor were it not for 

 this would grassy tracts be left open for wild beasts to be 

 chased, or cattle to be herded. 



By the presence of fossils, therefore, we adduce the fact 

 that the sea coast is being slowly elevated, and we also find 

 that within a mile or so of the coast they become de- 



