Númenor was surrounded by the Great Sea, but it was close to the island of the Elves, Tol Eressëa that lay to the West. In Númenor's early history, the Elves of Eressëa would frequently visit the isle of the Dúnedain, bringing with them gifts that included plants and trees. One of these was a fragrant evergreen that the Elves called oiolairë, that by custom they set on the prows of their ships in recognition of the Maiar of the Sea. The Númenóreans took up this practice, too, and ships leaving the island would each bear a Green Bough of Return - a bough cut from the Elven-tree oiolairë.