250 KEELING ISLAND. 



salt water ; but the rain which falls on the surface 

 must sink to the level of the surrounding sea, and 

 must accumulate there, displacing an equal bulk 

 of the salt water. As the water in the lower part 

 of the great sponge-like coral mass rises and falls 

 with the tides, so will the water near the surface ; 

 and this will keep fresh, if the mass be sufficiently 

 compact to prevent much mechanical admixture ; 

 but where the land consists of great loose blocks 

 of coral with open interstices, if a well be dug, the 

 water, as I have seen, is brackish. 



After dinner we stayed to see a curious half- 

 superstitious scene acted by the Malay women. A 

 large wooden spoon dressed in garmcTits. and which 

 had been carried to the grave of a dead man, they 

 pretend becomes inspired at the full of the moon, 

 and will dance and jump about. After the proper 

 preparations, the spoon, held by two women, be- 

 came convulsed, and danced in good time to the 

 song of the surrounding children and women. It 

 was a most foolish spectacle ; but Mr. Liesk main- 

 tained that many of the Malays believed in its 

 spiritual movements. The dance did not com- 

 mence till the moon had risen, and it was well 

 worth remaining to behold her bright orb so quietly 

 shining through the long arms of the cocoa-nut 

 trees as they waved in the evening breeze. These 

 scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious, 

 that they almost equal those dearer ones at home, 

 to which we are bound by each best feeling of the 

 mind. 



The next day I employed myself in examining 

 the very interesting, yet simple structure and ori- 

 gin of these islands. The water being unusually 

 smooth, I waded over the outer flat of dead rock 

 as far as the living mounds of coral, on which the 

 swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gul- 



