Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/185

ASHORE. 159 But the shore hère was quite a désert A narrow strîp of beach, strewn wîth boulders, was enclosed by a clîff of no great heîght, in whîch, at îrregular intervais, deep funnels appeared as chasms în the rock. Hère and there a gentle slope led to the top. About a quarter of a mîle to the north was the mouth of a little river which had not been visible from the sea. Its banks were overhung by a number of " rhizophora/' a species of mangrove entirely distinct from that indigenous to India. It was soon ascertained that the summit of the cliff was clothed by a dense forest, extending far away in ondulations of verdure to the mountains în the background. Had Cousin Benedict been a botanist, he could not hâve failed to find a new and interesting field for his researches ; there were lofty baobabs (to which an extraordinary lon- gevity has often been erroneously ascribed), with bark resembling Egyptian syenite ; there were white pînes, tamarinds, pepper-plants of peculiar species, and numerous other plants unfamiliar to the eye of a native of the North ; but, strange to say, there was not a single spécimen of the extensive family of palms, of whîch more than a thousand varieties are scattered în profusion in so many quarters of Ùie globe. Above the shore hovered a large number of screeching birds, mostly of the swallow tribe, their black plumage shot with steelly blue, and shading off to a light brown at the top of the head. Now and then a few partrîdges of a greyish colour rose on wing, their necks entirely bare of feathers : the fearless manner în which the varions birds ail allowed themselves to be approached made Mrs. Weldon and Dîck both wonder if the shores upon which they had been thrown were not so deserted that the sound of fire-arms was not known. On the edge of the reefs some pélicans (of the species known as pelicanus minor) were busily filling their pouches with tîny fish, and some g^Us coming in from the open sea began to circle round the wreck : with thèse exceptions not a lîving créature appeared în sight. Benedict, no doubt, could hâve dîscovered many entomological noveltiesamongst