tree
being found passing through several strata of sandstone rock. Many of
the cocoa-nut trees have their stems embedded to the depth of fifty
feet and upwards in the embankment of sand which stretches along the
shore, and in many places is several hundred feet broad; some of them,
indeed, are so deeply embedded, that the nuts can be gathered without
climbing the tree. Now as this sand has accumulated at different
periods, particularly during the prevalence of the north-east
trade-wind, it must present, if ever it becomes hardened, a vast number
of irregularly horizontal beds, through which the stems of the palms
will be found to pass.
From
a fisherman, whom I met on the shore, I obtained permission to occupy
an empty hut till the next day. While seated on the trunk of a tree,
which was lying on the beach at high-water mark, I observed that on the
shore here, as well as along the coast, crabs of various sizes
abounded; and, as I had to wait until my luggage was landed and carried
to the hut, I amused myself by watching the operations of a small
species, belonging to the genus Gelasimus, that was either
making or enlarging its burrow in the sand. About once in every two
minutes it came up to the surface with a quantity of sand enclosed in
its left claw, which, by a sadden jerk, it ejected to the distance of
about six inches, always taking care to vary the direction in which it
was thrown, so as to prevent its accumulation in one place. Having a
few small shells belonging to a species of Turbo in one of my
jacket pockets, I endeavoured to throw one of these into its hole, in
order to see whether it would bring it up again or not; of the four
that were thus thrown, one only entered the hole, the others remaining
within a few inches of it. It was about five minutes before the animal
again made its appearance, bringing with it the shell which had gone
down, and carrying it to the distance of about a foot from its burrow,
it there deposited it. Seeing the others lying near the mouth of the
hole, it immediately carried them, one by one, to the place where the
first had been laid down, and then returned to its former labour of
carrying up sand. It was impossible not to conclude that the actions of
this little creature, which holds so low a station in the chain of
beings, were the
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