If it were not capable of surviving and
flourishing under conditions fatal to most plants it could not
contribute its quota to the formation of humus favourable to the
progress of the advancing hosts of tropical vegetation.
A weird and stealthy process is this invasion of the ocean, which leads
to the alteration and amendment of the surface of the globe. Here, may
be watched the very growth of land--land creeping silently, irresistibly
upon the sea, yet with a movement which may be calculated and registered
with exactitude. Having fulfilled its purpose, the mangrove suffers the
fate of the primitive and aboriginal. Tyrannous trees of over-topping
growth, which at first hesitatingly accepted its hospitality, crowd and
shove, compelling the hardy and courageous plant to further efforts to
win dominion from the ocean. So the pioneer advances, ever reclaiming
extended areas as the usurping jungle presses on its rear.
Nor must it be imagined that mangrove swamps are unproductive. Fish
traverse the intricacies of the arching roots, edible crabs burrow holes
in the mud, and in them await your coming, and more often than not
baffle your ingenuity to extricate them.
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