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round the Island, and Mr Horne and myself to explore the 
valley and then climb to the highest point literally the back- 
bone of Praslin. We began in the grove of the Cocos de mer. 
I was stripping some of the dead leaves of these trees looking- 
for insects, and wherever it was damp I found at the base of 
each, a species of Typfolops from 14 to 1G inches long, and 
twice as large as an ordinary goose quill ; jet black in colour, 
but so active they vanished like a flash of lightning, and though 
I saw so many I only succeeded in capturing a small one, I 
never saw a snake with such rapid movement. It was quite 
new to me, and I was a little afraid of it, particularly as the 
men gave it the credit of being poisonous. Not one of them 
would attempt to catch these snakes. 
“ We came here upon another floral beauty. I thought I 
had found a new fern, but Mr Horne soon settled it as the 
common langue de boeuf Aspleniwn Nidus ; but under such un- 
usual conditions it was scarcely astonishing I did not recognise 
it. From between the granite boulders the fronds sprang up to 
a height of 9 or teq feet, and 12 inches broad. Great clumps of 
it were met occasionally. , 
“ It is on the Coco de mer that are found the large shells of 
the Helix Studeriana, of two varieties, dark brown, and olive 
yellow, and the pretty little Cyclostoma, insulare. The former 
may be seen up the stems through one would think they could 
scarcely pierce the bark which is so hard as to require an axe 
of the finest temper to cut it. When young it is said the Helix 
eats its way into the nut, but as it increases in size it cannot 
get out of what eventually proves its prison grave. We came 
to numbers of trees loaded with mandarin, oranges and sweet 
lemons of which we took a provision in our vasculums. Though 
we were not at a loss for refreshment as cocoa nuts grow 
every where, and you can always get a darlcie to climb for the 
fruit by the inducements of the smallest coin. 
“ As we climbed tho mount aiu I looked in vain for the black 
and green parrots once so numerous there, and the beautiful 
pigeon Erythrcena Pulchernma with its lustrous black plumage 
with a violet sheen when in tho sun, and brilliant scarlet 
head. I saw a few birds but could not get a shot at them. 
