MANGROVE. 
145 
happen where the ground is perpetually moist, and 
soft enough to receive any impression, which is the 
case where these trees are found. 
The bark, which the Chinese employ to strike a 
black dye, exhales a very strong smell of sulphur ; 
and the wood, which partakes of the same odour, 
burns very briskly, and with a bright dazzling 
flame. 
In consequence of the mangrove trees growing, 
as it were, in the water, they become the retreat of 
fishes, and especially of oysters. These last deposit 
their spat upon the stems and branches, which in 
time become loaded with them ; and the oysters 
gathered from such situations, may be readily known 
by pieces of the wood which are generally attached 
to the shells. 
VOL. in. 
L 
