OF ALL COUNTRIES. 54 1 



uncounted ages, grottoes and stony ferns, and pinnacles, of 

 which each component atom is a gem, and fantastic forms 

 of every hue surpassing the pen of man to describe and 

 almost the heart to conceive ; which, like the walls of Thebes 

 beneath the lyre of Amphion, rise up in a silence unbroken 

 save by the music of the southern wave. We are amid 

 the coral groves, that marvellous aggregation of living 

 animals, so subtly constructed to deceive the sight that 

 none dreamed of the pulses of animal life beating beneath 

 the tree-like rock until the ill-rewarded labours of Peys- 

 sonnel revealed to an unappreciative world the true nature 

 of coral, " the daughter of the sea." Surely in so retired a 

 spot, and amid such lovely scenes as these, some respite 

 may be found for the denizens of the waters. Not at all. 

 Not even the repose of coral groves can hope to escape the 

 disturbance of the never-resting industry of man. As we 

 gaze upwards through the translucent wave a huge, strange 

 combination of wood and iron descends, shaped in the form 

 of a cross, with two bars strongly lashed and bolted to- 

 gether, and seven lines attached to it. An immense stone 

 directs its course towards the bottom, and the gentle motion 

 of the vessel drags it against the rocks and with a series 

 of jerks bears off the coral to be the ornament of some 

 bride or matron. 



Enough. We have looked over many lands, down into the 

 depths of many an ocean. We have seen our brave toiler 

 of the sea struggling everywhere, and taken note of the 

 riches he reaps for the benefit of others. Is there no other 

 side to the question ? Is there no sight which tells of his 

 own condition, and are there no memorials which we may 

 finally carry away in our minds as illustrative of the lot ot 

 the fisherman ? Alas, such a picture exists ; and sad as 

 is the contrast between the tales of national wealth and 



