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 organisation irresistibly suggests the wonderful means ordained by Providence to spread this valuable plant along the barren beach to which no seed-devouring bird ever resorts; and even the unobservant natives, struck by its singular utility in resisting the encroachments of the sea, have recorded their admiration by conferring on it the name of _Maha-Rawana roewula_,--"the great beard of Rawana or Rama." The banks being thus ingeniously protected from the action of the air above, and of the water at their base, other herbaceous plants soon cover them in quick succession, and give the entire surface the first aspect of vegetation.

A little retired above high water are to be found a species of _Aristolochia_[1], the Sayan[2], or _Choya_, the roots of which are the Indian Madder (in which, under the Dutch Government, some tribes in the Wanny paid their tribute); the gorgeous _Gloriosa superba_, the beautiful _Vistnu-karandi_[3] with its profusion of blue flowers, which remind one of the English "Forget-me-not," and the thickly-matted verdure of the _Hiramana-doetta_[4], so well adapted for imparting consistency to the soil.

In the next stage low shrubs make their appearance, their seeds being drifted by the waves and wind, and taking ready root wherever they happen to rest.