iPPENWX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 241 



madrepores mixed with variotis shells and the spines erf the sea hedge- 

 hog, which break into large tablets, and are so couipaet as to sound 

 loudly under the hammer. On the sloping side of the inner ridge w 

 reef tlie animals discovered in the act of carrying on their operations 

 were the Tnhipora muHica, the Millepora axrulea, BisticJiojwra, Actinias^ 

 and various kinds of Polypus. The living branches of the LythopTiytes 

 were generally attached to the dead stems; many of the latter, how- 

 ever, crumbled into sand, which, accumulating on the inner declivity^ 

 constitutes a considerable part of the surface of tlie new islands. 



The ridge or reef, when once above water on the windward side, 

 extends itself by slow degrees till it has surrounded the whole plateau 

 of the submarine mountain, leaving in the middle an inclosed lake into 

 which are passnges, more or less deep, communicating with the ocean; 

 the islets formed on the reef or wall are smaller or lai'ger, according to 

 accidental circumstances. Chamisso observed that the smaller species 

 of "corals" had scmght a quiet abode within the lagoon, where they 

 Were silently and slowly throwing up banks which in process o£ time 

 unite with the islets that surround them, and at length fill up the 

 lagoon, so that what was at first a ring of islands becomes one con- 

 uected mass of land. The progress towards a state fit for the habita- 

 tion of man is thus described % the naturalist: 



As soon as it has reftchod such a height that it remains almost dry at low water at 

 the time of ebb, the corals leave otf building higher; sea-shells, fragments of coral, 

 sea-hedgehog sheila, and their broken-oft prickles are united by the burning sun, 

 through the medium of the cementing calcareous sand, which lias arisen from the 

 pulverization of the above-mentioned shells into one whole or solid stone, which, 

 strengthened by the continual throwing up of new materials, gradually increases in 

 thickness, till it at last becomes so high that it is covered only during some seasons 

 of the year by the high tides. The heat of the sun so penetrates the mass of stone 

 when it is dry that it splits in many places and breaks off in flakes. These flakes, so 



separated, are raised one upon another by the waves at the time of high water. 

 23 The always active surf throws blocks of coral (frefjuently of a fathom in 



length and 3 or 4 feet thick) and shells of marine animals between and upon 

 the foundation stones. After this the calcareous sand lies undisturbed, and otfers to 

 the seeds of trees and plants cast upon it by the waves a soil upon which they 

 rapidly grow to overshadow the dazzling white surface. Entire trunks of trees, 

 which are carried by the rivers from other countries and islands, And here at length 

 a resting-place after their long wanderings; with these come some small animals, 

 such as lizards and insects, as the first inhabitants. Even before the trees form a 

 wood, the real sea birds nestle here; strayed land birds take refuge in the bushes, 

 and at a much later period, when the work has been long since completed, man also 

 appears, builds his hut on the fruitful soil formed by the corruption of the leaves of 

 the trees, and calls himself lord and proprietor of this new creation. (Vol. iii, pp. 

 331-333.) 



The reflections of Kotzebue are just and natural: 



The spot on which I stood filled me with astonishment, and I adored in silent admi- 

 ration the omnipotence of God, who had given even to these minute animals the 

 ]iower to construct such a work. My thoughts were confounded when I consider 

 the immense series of years that must elapse before such an island can rise from the 

 fathomless abyss of the ocean and become visililc on the surface. At a future period 

 they will assume another shape; all the islands will join, and form a circular slip of 

 earth with a pond or lake in the circle; and this foiru will again change as these 

 animals continue buihling, till they reach the surface, and then the water will one 

 day vanish, and only one great island be visible. It is a strange feeling to walk 

 about on a living island, where all below is actively at work. And to what corner of 

 the earth can we penetrate where human beings are not already to be found? In 

 the remotest regions of the north, amidst mountains of ice, under the burning sun 

 of the Equator,' nay, even in the middle of the ocean, on islands which have been 

 formed by animals, they are met with. (Vol. ii, p. 36.) 



The inhabitants of this group seemed to differ little from those of 

 Polynesia in general. The men were tall and well made ; they wore their 

 black hair neatly knotted upon the head, and decorated with wreaths of 

 a Ex. 177, pt. 4 16 



