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Ile aux Cocos (Rodrigues Island): photo by B. navez, October 2006
Where the remote Bermudas ride
In th’ Ocean’s bosome unespy’d,
From a small Boat, that row’d along,
The list’ning Winds receiv’d this Song.
......What should we do but sing his Praise That led us through the wat’ry Maze,
Unto an Isle so long unknown,
And yet far kinder than our own?
Where he the huge Sea-Monsters wracks,
That lift the Deep upon their Backs,
He lands us on a grassy Stage;
Safe from the Storms and Prelat's rage.
He gave us this eternal Spring,
Which here enamells every thing;
And sends the Fowl's to us in care,
On daily Visits through the Air.
He hangs in shades the Orange bright,
Like golden Lamps in a green Night;
And does in the Pomegranates close,
Jewels more rich than Ormus show's.
He makes the Figs our mouths to meet;
And throws the Melons at our feet.
But Apples plants of such a price,
No Tree could ever bear them twice.
With Cedars, chosen by his hand,
From Lebanon, he stores the Land.
And makes the hollow Seas, that roar,
Proclaime the Ambergris on shoar.
He cast (of which we rather boast)
The Gospels Pearl upon our Coast.
And in these Rocks for us did frame
A Temple, where to sound his Name.
Oh let our Voice his Praise exalt,
Till it arrive at Heavens Vault:
Which thence (perhaps) rebounding, may
Eccho beyond the Mexique Bay.
......Thus sung they, in the English boat,
An holy and a chearful Note,
And all the way, to guide their Chime,
With falling Oars they kept the time.
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678: Bermudas, n.d., in Miscellaneous Poems, 1681
Lychees, Réunion Island. Lychees are fruits of a tree (Litchi chinensis) belonging to the family of Sapindaceae. Fruits derive from flowers with 2 (or sometimes 3) carpels. Usually only one carpel develops, but we may find some twin lychees when both carpels develop: photo by b. Navez, 6 January 2008
Mangos (Mangifera indica) in an orchard, Réunion Island: photo by B. navez, 6 February 2008
Cosmos sulfureus flowers, Réunion Island: photo by B. navez, 30 March 2008
Dombeya acutangula flowers and a honey bee (Apis mullifera) collecting pollen: photo by B. navez, February 2008
Hibiscus flower (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), in my garden, Réunion Island: photo by B. navez, 12 January 2008
Levant's Cotton Flower (Gossypium hirsutum), l'Etang Salé forest, western shore of Réunion Island: photo by B. navez, 31 May 2006
Hibiscus boryanus (orange flower variety), Réunion Island: photo by B. navez, 25 February2006
Feral goats on Europa Island: photo by B. navez, February 2008
Tens of thousands of Sooty Terns (Oncyoprion fuscatus syn. Sterna fuscata), circulating above nesting areas in the steppes of Europa Island: photo by B. navez, July 2005
Frigatebirds on Europa Island: Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor), male with red throat; and Lesser Frigatebird (Frigata ariel), with white chest: photo by B. navez, July 2005
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