42 2 Notes on Sport and Travel v 



But, full of beauty as our reef was, it, like many other 

 beautiful things, was not without its dangers. It 

 ' craves wary walking ' ; should your heel happen to 

 slip into one of those exquisitely bright apple-green 

 or apricot-coloured fringes which look as innocently 

 safe as so much dried and dyed mop, it may cost 

 you dear. If once the valves of the giant clams, 

 whose feeding and breathing organs they are, close 

 together on it, you will want all the help you can 

 get to be free before the tide comes roaring in over 

 the reef ; and if there be no crowbar handy to prise 

 the mighty jaws of Tridacna open, you had better try 

 the tomahawk, if you have one, on your ankle ; 'tis 

 your only chance for life. 



What an exquisite punishment for a felonious 

 conchologist given to cribbing his friend's rare 

 specimens ; fixed for ever by a giant Tridacna, and 

 for ever waiting in perspiring horror the return of its 

 infuriated owner ! As it is just possible that you do 

 not know what a Tridacna is, let me recommend you, 

 the next time you go to Paris, to pay a visit to the 

 church dedicated to St. Sulpice, where you will see 

 one-half of a gigantic specimen enlisted into the 

 service of the church as a holy-water pot. 



How we wander from New Caledonia to St. 

 Sulpice ! Let us get back to our picture, about 

 which you have probably forgotten everything by 

 this time. As far as I can make out by the dim 

 light of memory, it represents two enormous sperma- 

 ceti whales working their way onwards in their 



