Ix THE SEA 363 
themselves we are assured that language con- 
veys no adequate idea. ‘There were corals,” 
says Prof. Ball, ‘ which, in their living state, 
are of many shades of fawn, buff, pink, and 
blue, while some were tipped with a magenta- 
like bloom. Sponges which looked as hard as 
stone spread over wide areas, while sprays of 
coralline added their graceful forms to the 
picture. Through the vistas so formed, golden- 
banded and metallic-blue fish meandered, while 
on the patches of sand here and there Holo- 
thurias and various mollusca and crustaceans 
might be seen slowly crawling.” 
Abercromby also gives a very graphic 
description of a Coral reef. “As we ap- 
proached,” he says, “the roaring surf on 
the outside, fingery lumps of beautiful live 
coral began to appear of the palest lavender- 
blue colour; and when at last we were almost 
within the spray, the whole floor was one 
mass of living branches of coral. | 
“ But it is only when venturing as far as is 
prudent into the water, over the outward edge 
of the great sea wall, that the true character 
of the reef and all the beauties of the ocean 
