CORAL ISLANDS. 



275 



' Portuguese man-of-war,' whose large air-sack, with its splendid 

 vertical comb, shines in every shade of purple and azure. The 

 greatest marvels of the tropical ocean are, however, beyond 

 comparison, the wondrous buildings of the Lithophytes, or stone 

 polyps, the reefs and coral islands. Here we see them forming 

 vast barriers which fringe the shores for hundreds and hundreds 

 of miles ; there they rise in circular atolls over the blue waves, 

 like bridal rings dropped from the heavens upon the surface of 

 the seas. All is wonderful in these amazing constructions — 

 their puny architects, the lagoons they encircle, the power with 

 which they resist the most furious breakers, the little world of 

 plants drifted over the waters, which ultimately covers them 

 with a verdant crown, and invites man to settle on these 

 gardens of the ocean. There the tall cocoa-palm rocks its 

 feathered crest in the breeze, affording both shade and fruit to 

 the islander, and there the sea-bird finds a resting-place after 

 its wide flight over the deserts of the equatorial sea. 



T 2 



