COEALS. 135 



for immense distances while retaining the principle of life, 

 are arrested by the new reef, strike root, and become the 

 progenitors of palm-trees innumerable. Birds are sure 

 to follow, bringing with them the seeds of various plants, 

 and so by degrees the almost invisible coral-reef becomes 

 a fertile island. 



Man then visits the newly-formed region, attracted by 

 the waving palm-trees, and finds a spot exactly suited to 

 his wants. The natives of these climates are essentially 

 maritime, and nothing better for them could be imagined 

 than this palm-fringed ring of fertile land resting upon 

 its coral base. In its centre is an absolutely perfect 

 harbour, affording refuge for their canoes in stormy 

 weather. The harbour is, in fact, the crater of the 

 submerged volcano, so that whether within or without, 

 the vessels can be brought so close to the shore that the 

 tops of the cocoa-palms actually overhang the masts of 

 the canoes. 



Food is to be found in abundance. As to vegetable 

 food, there are, in the first place, the cocoa-nut palms, 

 each of which trees can afford subsistence to a family. 

 Then there are sure to be bread-fruits, yams, pine- 

 apples, mangoes, and the other vegetable productions 

 which thrive so abundantly in tropical regions. 



Animal food is found in abundance in the sea. Fishes 

 come for shelter in the coral-reefs, and absolutely swarm 

 under the overhanging ledges of rock. The interior of 

 the island is also full of them, the central lake with its 

 quiet waters being precisely what the fishes most need, 



