RHIZOPHORA MANGLE 



107 



especially frequent. The Water Hyacinth (Pontederia), Potamogeton 

 fluitans, and Ceratophyllum demersum grew abundantly in the stream ; 

 whilst occasional young Pistias and small portions of Azolla were to 

 be observed on the surface. 



I ascended for about 100 yards Bowen's River, a small stream 

 twenty-five to thirty feet across and infested by alligators, which 

 lies about three miles east of Savanna-la-mar. Whilst Typha and 

 Sagittaria grew on the borders, Polygonum glabrum, a pretty blue 

 Commelyna, and Hydrocotyle umbellata flourished at the margins and 

 in the shallows. Ceratophyllum demersum grew in dense submerged 

 masses, and in shallow places near the banks the surface of the 

 water was covered with Azolla. 



The Great Lake at Pondside near Black River. — This is a 

 large sheet of fresh- water less than a mile in length and ranging, as 

 I found, between one and a half and two and a half fathoms in depth. 

 Alligators here find a congenial home. They lay almost submerged 

 across the path of the canoe, and sank slowly as we approached. For 

 this reason I could not examine properly the abundant, tall reed- 

 growth at the margins, my little craft being frail and leaky, whilst 

 my coloured companion was too much scared to be of use to me. 

 Nymphcea ampla grew in abundance, for the most part in the shal- 

 lows; but even in the centre of the lake solitary plants with very 

 slender stems rose up to the surface from a depth of ten feet. Utri- 

 cularias, not in flower, were associated with the Nymphaeas; and 

 Potamogeton plantagineus thrived in all the shallower waters, with 

 Sagittaria lancifolia at the borders. In marshy places, where springs 

 rose up on the side of the lake, I noticed the Dumb Cane (Dieffen- 

 bachia seguine). I visited this lake a few days after the great earth- 

 quake at Kingston in January 1907, and was told that 44 the water 

 rose up in large waves like the sea." 



The District of the Salt Lakes near Black River, Jamaica. 

 — Bordering the sea-coast a few miles to the east of Black River lies 

 the district known as the Salt Lakes. Here are a number of shallow 

 salt-water lagoons in the midst of extensive mud-flats and swamps. 

 A detailed topographical description would be here out of place ; but 

 one may say that this region of lagoons is backed by the Great 

 Morass, and that it is fronted by the sea-beach. The lagoons vary 

 much in size, the largest being known as the Great Salt Lake, which 

 is nearly a mile in length, and at the time of my visits in January 

 1907 scarcely a fathom deep, the greatest soundings obtained being 

 usually four or five feet. Separating the lagoons from the sea is a 

 low strip of land varying in width between a few yards and a quarter 

 of a mile. Under ordinary conditions, such as prevailed at the time 

 of my visits, these lagoons are cut off from direct communication 

 with the sea. The Great Salt Lake, it is true, has a narrow, tortuous 

 channel leading to the coast, which is known as the Creek. But at 

 ordinary times there is no passage here through the beach. How- 

 ever, in the rainy months, as in May and October, when much of the 

 Salt Lakes district is submerged by the waters draining coastward 

 from the Great Morass, the waters force their passage and the Creek 

 remains open for a while to the sea. But Nature is sometimes slow 



