BABBLING BEACHES 109 



fragments of red coral are to the beach-comber as the 

 "colours" the gold fossicker may find in his dish — 

 prospective of reward. They reinspire the like fervour 

 which leads to the discovery of mountains as well as 

 microbes, for may they not signify the existence within 

 the bounds of the Great Barrier Reef of the precious 

 coral of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea ? Above 

 such hopeful sands lies a band formed of stag's-horn 

 coral, bleached snow-white, each time lying at right 

 angles to the sea, and higher up on the strand are blocks 

 and lumps of weather-stained coral among which vege- 

 tation is springing. A few yards further back stands a 

 group of Pandanus palms, the van of the dense and 

 intricate jungle covering rock and ridge. 



The shore of the sister islet may at the moment be 

 but series of steeply shelving banks of coral debris, to 

 the base of the granite ramparts over which the luxu- 

 riant foliage falls. 



Each islet has its distinguishing features, each beach 

 its budget of news for ears attuned to "small measures," 

 each its display of seemly things — the sweepings of the 

 floor of the sea. 



