252 TlMEHRI. 
seeds remind us of similar pools in England, where 
school-boys often went to cut " black puddings" as they 
were called. There seems to be no specific difference 
between our plant and the well-known Typha angustifolia 
of Europe. 
The native plant which takes the place of the bulrush 
is the Mocca-mocca, Montrichardia arborescens. This 
monster arum fringes the banks of the rivers beyond the 
line of bushes, growing in water four to six feet deep 
often raised by tide or flood until twice that depth. 
With stems like great clubs with the thick end down- 
wards, they endure the strongest current, and by growing 
thickly together help to preserve the river banks from 
washing away by flood or tide. 
Among the most interesting examples of plant life 
in the swamps are the mangrove and courida trees. 
These however live and thrive only on the sea shore 
or banks of great rivers, in salt or brackish water. 
All along the coast of Guiana the mangrove swamp 
covers those parts within the tidal influence, and the 
trees are doing a grand work in reclaiming thousands 
of acres from the sea. This however is not the end 
of their existence but every effurt is put forth to fight 
the winds and waves for their own advantage. If land is 
brought into cultivation as a result of the victory, neither 
mangrove, nor courida gain anything, but they still goon 
as they have for ages past. The twenty miles of swamp 
between the coast and the forest have mainly been re- 
claimed from the sea by their agency ; the work is still 
in progress and may be watched by any one who takes 
the trouble. In the savannahs floods come in the wet 
season, but these are not of long duration or very power- 
