94 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



elevated rocky woods, or on the sandy sea shore, all dry 

 localities which harmonize with the conditions found on 

 Swan Island. 



Another very striking feature of the woods was the 

 extraordinary number of " wild figs " (Ficus). The day 

 on which the first seed of this vegetable fiend got itself 

 transferred to Swan Island spelt death to hundreds of 

 vigorous and healthy trees. A shiver of apprehension 

 may well have permeated every living tree when the first 

 news of its arrival was wafted through the forest. To 

 walk through some parts of these island woods is to be 

 brought face to face at almost every few yards with a 

 cruel tragedy. There is really very little exaggeration 

 in this ; for the subtle tactics pursued by this vegetable 

 murderer are little short of horrible, so fiendishly clover 

 is it in working for its own ends. As one stops in front of 

 a fine young forest tree and observes its ghastly struggle for 

 dear life, one feels positively sorry for it. To make a long 

 story short, the "fig," instead of starting on the lowest 

 rung of the ladder of life, starts half way up it. To do it, 

 it has of course to be subservient to some high-born 

 or influential agent higher in the social scale than itself — 

 in this case a bird — to give it its first " leg up." At a 

 height of some ten or more feet from the ground, the bird 

 one day drops a seed of the " fig " in the fork of a healthy 

 young tree. As soon as the seed germinates it puts forth, 

 like all other seeds, roots ; but instead of these roots * 

 piercing the bark of the tree like a true parasite, they grow 

 downwards in the air, swaying to and fro in the slightest 

 puff of wind in a way that suggests snakes. Rapidly 

 increasing in length and thickness, these air-roots eventu- 

 ally reach and take root in the ground, close to the base 

 of the trunk of the wretched tree which has received its 

 unwelcome guest. From this moment the fate of the 

 tree is sealed ; and its lot grows daily more melancholy 



*A few true ground-roots grope about for nourishment in the 

 decaying humus formed from leaves which have lodged in the fork 

 of the tree. 



