The Completed Coral Island, 65 



The Completed Coral Island. By James D. Dana, Geologist 

 to the American Exploratory Expedition, &c., &c. 



The Coral Island, in its best condition, is but a miserable residence 

 for man. There is poetry in every feature ; but the natives find 

 this a poor substitute for the bread-fruit and yams of more favoured 

 lands. The cocoa-nut and pandanus are, in general, the only 

 products of the vegetable kingdom afforded for their sustenance, and 

 fish and crabs from the reef their only animal food. Scanty, too, 

 is the supply ; and infanticide is resorted to in self-defence, where 

 but a few years would otherwise overstock the half-dozen square 

 miles of which their little world consists. 



Yet there are more comforts than might be expected on a land of 

 so limited extent, without rivers, without hills, in the midst of salt 

 water, with the most elevated point but ten feet above high tide, and 

 no part more than 300 yards from the ocean. Though the soil is 

 light and the surface often strewed with blocks of coral, there is a dense 

 covering of vegetation to shade the native villages from a tropical sun. 

 Thecocoa-nut — thetreeof a thousand uses — grows luxuriantly on the 

 coral- made land, after it has emerged from the ocean ; and the scanty 

 dresses of the natives, their drinking- vessels and other utensils, 

 mats, cordage, fishing-lines, and oil, besides food, drink, and building 

 material, are all supplied from it. The Pandanus, or screw-pine, 

 flourishes well, and is exactly fitted for such regions : as it enlarges 

 and spreads its branches, one prop after another grows out from 

 the trunk and plants itsell' in the ground ; and by this means its base 

 is widened and the growing tree supported. The fruit, a large 

 ovoidal mass, made up of oblong dry seed, diverging from a centre, 

 each near two cubic inches in size, affords a sweetish-husky article 

 of food, which, though little better than prepared corn-stalks, admits 

 of being stored away for use when other things fail. The extensive 

 reefs abound in fish which are easily captured ; and the natives, with 

 wooden hooks, often bring in larger kinds from the deep waters. 

 From such resources a population of 10,000 persons is supported on 

 the single Island of Taputeouea, whose whole habitable area does not 

 exceed six square miles.* 



Water is usually to be found in sufficient quantities for the use of 

 the natives, although the land is so low and flat. They dig wells five 

 to ten feet deep in any part of the dry islets, and generally obtain a 

 constant supply. These wells are sometimes fenced around with 

 special care ; and the houses of the villages, as at Fakaafo, are often 

 clustered about them. On Aratica (Carlshoff) there is a watering- 



* There are a few islands better supplied with vegetable food, though the 

 above statements are literally true of a large majority. 



VOL. XLIX. NO. XCVII.— JULY 1850. E 



