aod CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 
half a mile in breadth, — of a slope higher than a beach, — 
of a change of seasons beyond a variation in the prevalence 
of rains? What elevation in morals should be expected upon 
a contracted islet, so readily over-peopled that threatened 
starvation drives to infanticide, and tends to cultivate the 
extremest selfishness? Assuredly there is not a more un- 
favorable spot for moral or intellectual progress in the wide 
world than the coral island. | 
Still, if well supplied with foreign stores, including a good 
stock of ice, they might become, were they more accessible, a 
pleasant temporary resort for tired workers from civilized 
lands, who wish quiet, perpetual summer air, salt-water bath- 
ing, and boating or yachting; and especially for those who 
could draw inspiration from the mingled beauties of grove, 
lake, ocean, and coral meads and grottoes, where 
“ Life in rare and beautiful forms 
Is sporting amid the bowers of stone.” 

Yet after all, the dry land of an atoll is so limited, its 
features so tame, its supply of fresh water so small, and of 
salt water so large, that whoever should build his cottage on 
one of them would probably be glad, after a short experience, 
to transfer it to an island of larger dimensions, like Tahiti or 
Upolu, one more varied in surface and productions; that has 
its mountains and precipices, its gorges and open valleys, leap- 
ing torrents not less than surging billows, and forests spread- 
ing up the declivities, as well as groves of palms and corals 
by the shores. 
