Jumping and climbing like a cat, in two minutes he was near the tree.
He could now see the true explanation of its growth in a seemingly impossible place.

Here the bed of the sea bulged upwards in a small sand cay, which silted round the base of a limestone rock, so different in color and formation from the coral reef.

Nature, whose engineering contrivances can force springs to mountain tops, managed to deliver to this isolated refuge a sufficient supply of water to nourish the palm, and the roots, firmly lodged in deep crevices, were well protected from the waves.
Between the sailor and the tree intervened a small stretch of shallow water.

Landward this submerged saddle shelved steeply into the lagoon.
Although the water in the cove was twenty fathoms in depth, its crystal clearness was remarkable.

The bottom, composed of marvelously white sand and broken coral, rendered other objects conspicuous.