68 Couthouy on Coral Formations 



centuries would be requisite for the construction of a solitary 

 reef, and myriads of ages must pass before the lateral growth 

 of the thousands of scattered islets and shoals could extend 

 itself so widely as to unite them all in one continuous body. 



That so many new islands in those seas, were and are still 

 discovered by almost every navigator, need not excite our sur- 

 prise if we consider their small extent, in general rendering 

 them mere specks in the ocean, which, together with their 

 slight elevation, prevents their being visible more than a few 

 miles under the most favorable circumstances. By day they 

 are often concealed by a veil of mist and cloud, and I have 

 myself passed within three miles of one, whose existence, 

 owing to this cause, would never have been suspected had we 

 not previously been well assured of it. During the night es- 

 pecially, in consequence of their being surrounded by deep, 

 blue water, vessels may, and do, frequently pass within a very 

 small distance of such perilous spots without receiving the 

 slightest warning of such proximity. 



On this subject the facts stated by intelligent, though un- 

 scientific observers, are entitled to our respect and considera- 

 tion, whatever may be our opinion of the inferences they 

 draw from them. 



The Rev. John Williams,* late missionary from England 

 to the South Seas, had bestowed much attention upon the sub- 

 ject of coral formations, among which he spent about sixteen 

 years of his valuable life. In his " Narrative of Missionary 

 Enterprise in the South Seas," p. 49, (1st Am. Ed.) he ob- 

 serves, "the rapidity of the coral growth has been egregi- 

 ously over-rated and over-stated." " You seldom find a piece 

 of branching madrepore, of brain, or of any other coral, how- 

 ever deep in the water, above two or three feet in height." 



And again on p. 50, alluding to the formation of new 

 islands, he remarks, " I have traditions of the natives on al- 

 most every subject, especially of their former navigators, where- 

 in every island which has subsequently been discovered within 



* Mr W. was barbarously murdered in November, 1839, by the cannibals at 

 Errumanga, one of the New Hebrides, while endeavoring to open a communi- 

 cation with them, for the object of introducing some native teachers from Samoa. 



