22 LIVING CREATURES. 



Here they live and multiply, fed, like the sponge, 

 by the surging waters ; and they climb up on the 

 ever dying skeletons of those that have lived before 

 them, until they reach the surface. All this time, 

 which must be a very great many years, the dashing 

 of the water has constantly broken and crumbled the 

 coral, so that the holes and cracks have been filled, 

 and the wall is solid. 



The little flower-animals, some of which are exceed- 

 ingly small, love to throw out their petal-tentacles in 

 the free, rushing water, where their food is most 

 abundant. This leads them to crowd to the edge of 

 the island, so that when their work, which is called a 

 reef, reaches the surface of the water, it is in the 

 shape of a ring or a horseshoe. In the middle of 

 the ring is a quiet lake, called a lagoon. 



When the reef rises near to the surface of the water, 

 the corals begin a rough experience. Then they crum- 

 ble and break off by the force of the waves that dash 

 over them, and are heaped up above the level of the 

 water. The waves grind the surface into soil. Seeds 

 are wafted from far distant shores and find this soil. 

 Trees and flowers grow ; and could you ascend with 

 the eagle and look down, you would see this coral 

 reef lying like a leafy wreath on the bosom of the 

 ocean, beautiful, strong, but made of skeletons. 



Somehow birds find these lonely coral islands of the 

 Pacific. On one of them, where no human beings 

 dwell, Professor Dana, of Yale, found multitudes of 

 birds who had no fear of man. No hunters with 

 noisy guns had ever disturbed their peace. No heart- 

 less boys had broken their eggs or snatched away their 



