LIFE ON A CORAL ISLAND. 807 



ing when compared with the boundless wealth of living things in mid- 

 ocean. Still,, our three weeks of tossing and pitching in a heavy sea 

 had tried our patience until we were heartily tired of our narrow quar- 

 ters, and ready to give a warm welcome to any land. 



We sighted Abaco, the outermost one of the Bahama Islands, at 

 daybreak on a beautiful Sunday morning, and we were soon in calm 

 water, threading our way before a gentle breeze, which hardly ruffled 

 the surface among the countless small islands which form a fringe or 

 natural breakwater around the " mainland " of Abaco. 



This island, which lies nearly north and south, is about a hundred 

 miles long, and its eastern edge is bordered by a narrow sound from 

 three to five miles wide, the outer shore of which is formed by a rim 

 made up of thousands of small islets, or " keys," separated from each 

 other by narrow, winding channels. Some of the keys are ten or twelve 

 miles around, while others are no larger than a small house. They 

 are high and well wooded, with bold headlands and cliffs, and long, 

 winding bays and inlets. 



Our first sail among them was an experience which will always 

 remain fresh in our memories. As far as the horizon, before and 

 behind us, was a series of bold promontories, one jetting out beyond 

 another, and, as our vessel rounded one rocky point after the other, 

 new stretches of land and water opened before us with new glimpses 

 of the strange country we had come so far to explore. 



We had read many glowing descriptions of the gorgeous beauty 

 of the tropics, but these were all forgotten, and we felt that we were 

 entering a land where everything was new. Our reason refused to 

 put any limit to the wonderful discoveries which filled our imagina- 

 tion, and, as we sailed slowly past cliffs bathed in spray from the 

 breakers which rolled in from the ocean, past the mouths of caves 

 which the sea had hollowed out in the limestone rock, past deep bays 

 and long, winding sounds which penetrated deep into the islands, our 

 fancy peopled every cave and tide-pool with strange animals new to 

 science, and we felt all the glow of enthusiasm which we experienced 

 when we first entered a scientific laboratory and prepared to solve all 

 the problems of the unknown universe. 



Navigation among the sunken reefs and submerged islands, which 

 are much more numerous than those above water, is very dangerous. 

 A few miles away the ocean is more than three miles deep, with no 

 land nearer than Africa, and the heavy sea which is always pounding 

 upon the outer reefs soon puts an end to any vessel which deviates 

 from the narrow, winding channels between the ledges of growing 

 coral ; but our pilot steered us safely through the crooked inlet be- 

 tween Whale Key and No-Name Key into the inner sound. 



Here we saw, for the first time, that intensely green sea which has 

 been so frequently mentioned by voyagers among coral islands. This 

 vivid color soon became more familiar, but never lost its novelty, and 



