M ANGKOVE-L AGOONS. 
247 
situations with poisonous miasmata that frequently 
form the prolific source of disease and death. 
There seems to he a continual encroachment of 
the land upon the sea in certain parts of the coast by 
the agency of this tree. The Mangrove growing 
irregularly projects its sombre shrubberies into the 
sea in capes and points, inclosing little bays ; which 
by the gradual growth of the encircling points, by 
and by become lagoons, or shallow salt-lakes. On 
the sheltered expanse of these beautiful but trea- 
cherous lakes, the seeds of the surrounding groves 
begin to root, and presently we see rising here 
and there rounded clumps of Mangroves, like little 
wooded islets spotting its broad bosom. These con- 
tinually increase in extent, approach each other, and 
in the course of years unite into a continuous grove. 
The unbroken silence and sheltered retirement of 
these lagoons oflfer temptations to wading birds, of 
which they are not slow to avail themselves. The 
shallowness of the water, which often does not exceed 
eight or ten inches in depth over a surface of many 
acres, the abundance of marine animals that inhabit 
the mud, and the facilities for roosting and incubation 
tion presented by the arching roots and spreading 
branches everywhere around, enable these semi- 
aquatic fowl to pass their lives here in security and 
content. The timid Water-rail, which from its 
size, its form and colour, and its habits, so much 
resembling those of a pullet, has received the appella- 
tion of the Mangrove Hen {Rallus longirostris) , may 
frequently be seen slowly running over the vaulted 
roots, or hurrying through the shallow water from 
M 4 
