TO RADACK. 27 



immediately mounted on the roof of it, and pro- 

 claimed, by loud crowing, that he had taken pos- 

 session of it, while he tenderly divided with his 

 consort a lizard which he had caught. 1 planted 

 the yams in the neighbourhood of the habitations, 

 and, in a walk which we made into the interior 

 of the island, M. Chamisso sowed in various 

 places the seeds which we had brought with us. 

 After a slight observation, we found that this island, 

 like all the others, consisted of fragments of coral. 

 The animal builds upwards from the bottom of 

 the sea, and dies as soon as it reaches the surface ; 

 from this edifice there is then formed, by the con- 

 stant washing of the sea, a grey calcareous stone, 

 which seems to be the basis in all the islands, and, 

 being gradually covered with sand, becomes a 

 sandy island, which increases in the course of 

 time, and, by the seeds* which the sea washes up, 

 is covered with plants, which, by the falling off of 

 the leaves, at length produce a black fruitful earth. 

 I cannot enter into a detailed explanation of the 

 origin of the Coral islands, they belong to the 



* This seed is of such a nature, that it can be drifted about 

 the sea for years together without spoiling, as it hes concealed 

 in a thick shell. It probably comes from the coasts of America, 

 where it is carried by the rivers into the sea, and, by the strong 

 current which, between the tropics, generally go from E. to W. 

 is at last brought to these islands. To be convinced of the 

 possibility of this, we may remember the Japanese ship which 

 was carried by the current from E. to W. in seventeen months 

 from the coast of Japan to California. 



