The island is all made of coral, and the streets are just hard white coral worn down.

The island is almost flat, and 'Captain Li'-- he's our captain--says that the highest part is only sixteen feet above the ocean.
"Oh, Edna! you ought to see the palm-trees.

They grow everywhere, great cocoa-nut and date palms, and we drink the milk out of the cocoa-nuts when we go on picnics and get thirsty.

And the roses are perfectly lovely, and they have great oleanders and cactuses, and hundreds of flowers that I don't know the names of, and they are all in full bloom now, though it is nearly Christmas.

I don't suppose I shall hang up my stocking this Christmas; they don't seem to do it down here.
"The other day we went out to the soldiers' barracks, and saw a banyan-tree that 'Captain Li' says is the only one in the United States, but we didn't see any monkeys or elephants.