OF THE MALDIVE ISLANDS. 
117 
A marked increase in the size and luxuriance of the vege- 
tation is noticeable in passing from the west to the east of 
Mahlos Atoll. 
In North Mahlos the islands of the east side are formed 
for the most part of rock toward the seaward face with 
coarse sand inside. Compared with S. Mahlos, there did 
not appear to me to be nearly the variety in herbaceous 
plants, while woody plants are the same, the trees generally 
much taller and often of quite remarkable size. Kenurus 
in particular is covered in places with large banyans and 
Barringtonias. They everywhere keep well back from the 
beach, and avoid the sandy area, growing most luxuriantly 
at the line of junction of rock and sand. 
The western and inner islands of N. Mahlos resemble the 
sandy islands of S. Mahlos for the most part ; the majority 
are sandbanks forming or being washed away. Of these, I 
visited over thirty, and there seemed to me to be a definite 
order in which the plants came to them. All are at some 
time the resort at high tide of large flocks of terns, herons, 
and sandbirds, the common crow appearing only when they 
become inhabited. Herbaceous plants first appear, most 
commonly Spinifex squarrosus or Launæa pinnatifida, to be 
followed by Mariscus Dregeanus, Eragrostis plumosa, and 
perhaps Aerua lanata. Very quickly seedlings of Tourne- 
fortia argentea appear, and often these grow into large 
bushes before the Scævola arrives, and indeed this plant 
often remains for a long time absent, but as soon as it settles 
it at once spreads with great rapidity, only a relatively old 
Tournefortia tree being left here and there. On the first 
bushes Gassy tha filiformis is sure to be found. Ochrosia 
borbonica, Terminalia Catappa, and small Pandani soon 
appear, and in large sandbanks the central part is often 
covered with Guettarda speciosa and Hernandia peltata. 
Cocoanuts do not, as a general rule, grow well on these 
islets, and the largest have seldom more than a few straggly 
