. Three voyages of a naturalist : being an account of many little-known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla" . en get blown away fromthe coast in the Mozambique Channel in this on, when we were in the Seychelle Islands,we heard several extraordinary tales of boats beingblown away during a hurricane, and being carriedfor great distances. , At daybreak on February 23rd, Mayotte, oneof the Comoro Islands, was sighted, and a shorttime afterwards we entered the harbour, which isstudded with little islands thickly covered withvegetation. As soon as we anchored off the t
. Three voyages of a naturalist : being an account of many little-known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla" . en get blown away fromthe coast in the Mozambique Channel in this on, when we were in the Seychelle Islands,we heard several extraordinary tales of boats beingblown away during a hurricane, and being carriedfor great distances. , At daybreak on February 23rd, Mayotte, oneof the Comoro Islands, was sighted, and a shorttime afterwards we entered the harbour, which isstudded with little islands thickly covered withvegetation. As soon as we anchored off the town black kites*appeared. These birds seem to be very commonwinter visitors to the Comoro Islands, as well asto Madagascar and many islands to the west ofit. Round about the ship, during the wholeof the time we spent at Mayotte, were many sharks,though most of them were small ones. Severalof these sharks were caught with a tarpon rod andline, and gave excellent sport. Nearly the whole of the original vegetation hasbeen cleared on Mayotte, and on one peak onlyis it now possible to see the virgin forests with * Milvus 00 I—I HHO oeie cq B£I VJ H Ph o t3 r_ «J r=H <s a £ 8 M V. G5 Pa 05 © M P ^ MANGROVE SWAMPS 85 which the island was formerly covered. The islandwas cleared for the cultivation of sugar cane, butthis industry being at a very low ebb the greaterpart is now uncultivated, and is becoming coveredwith a thick growth of acacia trees. At oneplace we landed at a wharf which formerly belongedto a large sugar factory, which was still standingwith the machinery for crushing the cane, althoughit had been abandoned for several years. The shore on the leeward side is bordered withmangrove swamps, which are covered by the seaat high tide. The mud in these swamps makes afine feeding ground for wading birds. The mostremarkable of these was the crab-plover,* a birdwhich much resembles an avocet in size andcoloration. Its bill, however, is short and stout,and very d
Size: 1324px × 1887px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyagesaroundtheworl
