An article on the meaning of the word gobb will be found in the Journal Asiatique for September, 1844; but it does not exhibit clearly the very peculiar features of these openings.  It is contained in an extract from the work on India of ALBYROUNI, a contemporary of Avicenna, who was born in the valley of the Indus.—­“Un golfe (gobb) est comme une encoignure et un detour que fait la mer en penetrant dans le continens:  les navires n’y sont pas sans peril particulierement a l’egard du flux et reflux.”—­Extrait de l’ouvrage d’ ALBYROUNI sur l’Inde; Fragmens Arabes et Persans, relatifs a l’Inde, recueilles par M. REINAUD; Journ.  Asiat., Septembre et Octobre, 1844, p. 261.  In the Turkish nautical work of SIDI ALI CHELEBI, the Mohit, written about A.D. 1550, which contains directions for sailors navigating the eastern seas, the author alludes to the gobbha’s on the coast of Arracan; and conscious that the term was local not likely to be understood beyond those countries, he adds that “gobbha” means “a gulf full of shallows, shoals, and breakers.”  See translation by VON HAMMER, Journ.  Asiat.  Soc.  Beng. v. 466.]

The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various points along the coast of Ceylon.

The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by a series of littoral plants, which apparently require a large quantity of salt to sustain their vegetation.  These at times are intermixed with others, which, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection on the shore.  On the northern and north-western coasts the glass worts[1] and salt worts[2] are the first to appear on the newly raised banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping plants which in their turn afford shelter to a third and erect class.

[Footnote 1:  Salicornia Indica.]

[Footnote 2:  Salsola Indica.]

The Goat’s-foot Ipomoea[1], which appears to encircle the world, abounds on these shores, covering the surface to the water’s edge with its procumbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its purple-coloured flowers contrasts strikingly with its dark green foliage.

[Footnote 1:  Ipomoea pes-caprae]

Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans[1] each endowed with a peculiar facility for reproduction, thus consolidating the sands into which they strike; and the moodu-gaeta-kola[2] (literally the “jointed seashore plant,”) with pink flowers and thick succulent leaves.

[Footnote 1:  The Mooduawara (Canavalia obtusifolia), whose flowers have the fragrance of the sweet pea, and Dolichos luteus.]

[Footnote 2:  Hydrophylax maritima.]