CORAL ISLAND. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE TROPICAL OCEAN. 



Wanderings of an Iceberg — The Tropical Ocean — The Cachalot — The Frigate 

 Bird— The Tropic Bird— The Esculent Swallow— The Flying-fish— The Bonito 

 — The "White Shark — Tropical Fishes — Crustaceans — Land Crabs — Molluscs — 

 Jelly Fish — Coral Islands. 



DAY after day the glacier of the north protrudes its mass 

 farther and farther into the sea, until finally, rent by the 

 tides, and with a crash louder than that of the avalanche, the 

 iceberg rolls into the abyss. The frost-bound waters, that have 

 languished so many years in their Grreenland prison, are now 

 drifting to the south, on their way to the tropical ocean ; but 

 the sun must rise and set for many a day before they bid adieu 

 to the fogs of the north. 



See there yon dismal ice-blocked shore, with the jagged 

 mountains in the background, their snowy peaks rising high 

 into the sky. Screeching sea-birds — fulmars, gulls, guillemots, 

 auks — mix their hoarse voices with the melancholy tones of 

 the breakers and the winds, and between them all resounds, 

 from time to time, the bellowing of the walrus or the roar of 

 the polar bear. 



The weak rays of the sun, just dipping over the horizon, 

 have called forth these symptoms of life ; but as soon as the 



