572 



HISTORY OF ZOOPHYTES. 



whole surface, which is very rugged and irre- 

 gular, covered with a mucous fluid, and al- 

 most in every part studded with little jelly- 

 like drops, which, when closely examined, 

 will be found to be no other than reptiles of 

 the polypus kind. These have their motions, 

 their arms, their appetites, exactly resembling 

 those described in the last chapter ; but they 

 soon expire when taken out of the sea, and 

 our curiosity is at once stopped in its career, 

 by the animals ceasing to give any mark of 

 their industry : recourse, therefore, has been 

 had to other expedients, in order to determine 

 the nature of the inhabitant, as well as the ha- 

 bitation. 



If a coraline plant be strictly observed, 

 while still growing in the sea, and the animals 

 upon its surface be not disturbed, either by the 

 agitation of the waters, or the touch of the ob- 

 server, the little polypi will then be seen in in- 

 finite numbers, each issuing from its cell, and 

 in some kinds the head covered with a little 

 shell, resembling an umbrella, the arms spread 

 abroad, in order to seize its prey, while the 



above the level of the sea the?e parts which are at pre- 

 sent below the water. Twenty-nine of the number had 

 lagoons, (or morasses) in the centres, within which, it 

 has been observed, the smaller species of coral seek a 

 quiet abode, and labour silently and slowly, in throwing 

 up banks, which, in process of time, unite with islets 

 that surround them, and at length fill up the lagoon, so 

 that >vhat was at first a ring of little islands, becomes one 

 connected mass of land. All these islands are situated 

 within the action of the trade wind, except one (Oeno,) 

 which is on the verge of it, and follow one general rule 

 in having their windward side higher, and more pro- 

 tected than the other, and not (infrequently, well wooded, 

 while the other is only a half drowned reef, or wholly 

 under water. At Gambier and Matilda islands this in- 

 equality is very conspicuous j the weather-side of both 

 being wooded, and, of the former, inhabited, while the 

 other sides were twenty or thirty feet under water, where 

 they might be perceived equally narrow and well defined. 

 One of these islands (Maiden island,) presented the sin- 

 gular appearance of perpendicular coral cliffs, elevated 

 eighty i'eet above the level of the sea; these were of 

 dead coral, but the outside of the island was surrounded 

 with a belt of living coral, sloping from the dill's, to 

 from three to twenty-five fathoms under water, after 

 which it descends abruptly to a depth where a 200-fa- 

 thom line does not reach the bottom. The surface of 

 this island is flat ; and it is not easy to account for its 

 present elevation, unless by an earthquake or sub-marine 

 volcanic explosion. 



Gambier Group consists of five large islands and seve- 

 ral smaller ones, the whole (as well as the five separate 

 islands,) being enclosed in a reef of coral, forming an 

 irregular diamond-shaped space. The older islands are 

 volcanic, and the largest rises in two peak?, 1248 feet 

 above the level of the sea. The outer belt of coral des- 

 cends abruptly outside to an unfathomable depth, but 

 slopes inward by a decreasing declination, to about 120 

 or 150 fathoms below the surface; and within this en- 

 closure, a number of low islands are already formed, and 

 others are in progress, rendering it almost certain that, 

 in process of time, the whole space will become one 

 island, each of the original islands being also inclosed with 

 its own reef. These are inhabited by a race of men with 

 fine Asiatic countenances, wearing mustachios and 



hinder part still remains attached to its habita- 

 tion, from whence it never wholly removes. 

 By this time it is perceived, that the number 

 of inhabitants is infinitely greater than was at 

 first suspected ; and that they are all assidu- 

 ously employed in the same pursuits, and that 

 they issue from their respective cells, and re- 

 tire into them at pleasure. Still, however, 

 there are no proofs that those large branches 

 which they inhabit, are entirely the construc- 

 tion of such feeble and minute animals. But 

 chemistry will be found to lend a clue to ex- 

 tricate us from our doubts in this particular. 

 Like the shells which are formed by snails, 

 mussels, and oysters, these coraline substan- 

 ces effervesce with acids : and may therefore 

 well be supposed to partake of the same ani- 

 mal nature. But Mr Ellis went still farther, 

 and examined their operations, just as they 

 were beginning. Observing an oyster-bed 

 which had been for some time neglected, he 

 there perceived the first rudiments of a coral- 

 ine plantation, and tufts of various kinds shoot- 

 ing from different parts of this favourable soil. 



beards, and they appeared to be more civilized than those 

 of many other islands. Specimens of spars, crystals, alu- 

 mine, jasper, and chalcedony, have been procured on 

 these islands by the naturalists who accompanied captain 

 Beechey. They are covered with a deep soil, and well 

 wooded with trees and evergreens of different kinds. 



It is a fact worthy of remark, that on all these island 1 ?, 

 a plentiful supply of fresh and sweet water may be ob- 

 tained, by digging three or four feet into the coral; ai:d 

 that even within one yard of high water mark, such a 

 supply is to be found. This is an important considera- 

 tion to the navigators of those seas, where such a resource 

 is so valuable, on account of the extreme heat to which 

 they are exposed ; and it shows also the powerful proper- 

 ties of the coral, in divesting the sea-water of its saline 

 particles. These properties, which are probably chemi- 

 cal, and not merely the effect of filtration, have never 

 been examined or experimented upon, but they furnish a 

 subject of consideration for the naturalist, and the man of 

 science. 



Of the rapidity with which the coral grows, we are not 

 in possessioii of sufficient information, on which to form 

 a correct judgment. Matilda, or Osnaburg island, is 

 supposed to have been only a reef of rocks, when the Ma- 

 tilda was wrecked there, in 1792; it is now an island, 

 fourteen miles in length, and covered on one side with 

 tall trees, and the lagcou in the centre is dotted with col- 

 umns. The coral, therefore, has probably made a rapid 

 growth since 1792, although Captain Beechey found two 

 anchors of a ton weight each, and a kedge anchor, which 

 he supposes belonged to the Matilda, thrown upon the 

 sunken reef of live coral, and around these anchors, the 

 coral had made no progress in growing, while some large 

 shell-fish, adhering to the same rock, were so overgrown 

 with coral, as to have only space enough left to open 

 about an inch. It is probable, however, that the oxide 

 proceeding from the anchors may have been prejudicial, 

 as far as its efi'ects extended, to the coral insect, and thus 

 have prevented its growth. All navigators, who have 

 visited these seas, state that no charts or maps are of any 

 service after a few years, owing to the number of fresh 

 rocks and reefs which are continually rising to the sur- 

 face ; and it is perfectly accordant w itli the instincts of 

 animals, to continue working without intermission, until 

 their labours are consummated or their lives are extinot. 



