ly require a large quantity
of salt to sustain their vegetation. These at times are intermixed with
others, which, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection
on the shore. On the northern and north-western coasts the glass
worts[1] and salt worts[2] are the first to appear on the newly raised
banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus
early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping
plants which in their turn afford shelter to a third and erect class.

[Footnote 1: Salicornia Indica.]

[Footnote 2: Salsola Indica.]

The Goat's-foot Ipomoea[1], which appears to encircle the world, abounds
on these shores, covering the surface to the water's edge with its
procumbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to
give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its
purple-coloured flowers contrasts strikingly with its dark green
foliage.

[Footnote 1: Ipomoea pes-caprae]

Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans[1] each endowed with a
peculiar facility for reproduction, thus consolidating the sands into
which they strike; and the moodu-gaeta-kola[2] (literally the "jointed
seashore plant,") with pink flowers and thick succulent leaves.

[Footnote 1: The Mooduawara (_Canavalia obtusifolia_), whose flowers
have the fragrance of the sweet pea, and _Dolichos luteus_.]

[Footnote 2: Hydrophylax maritima.]

Another plant which performs an important function in the fertilisation
of these arid formations, is the _Spinifex squarrosus_, the "water
pink," as it is sometimes called by Europeans. The seeds of this plant
are contained in a circular head, composed of a series of spine-like
divisions, which radiate from the stalk in all directions, making the
diameter of the whole about eight to nine inches. When the seeds are
mature, and ready for dispersion, these heads become detached from the
plant, and are carried by the wind with great velocity along the sands,
over the surface of which they are impelled on their elastic spines. One
of these balls may be followed by the eye for miles as it hurries along
the level shore, dropping its seeds as it rolls, which speedily
germinate and strike root where they fall. The globular heads are so
buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and the uppermost spines
acting as sails, they are thus carried across narrow estuaries to
continue the process of embanking on newly-formed sand bars. Such an