CORAL BUILDERS. 245 



than the manner in which these diminutive creatures 

 carry out their stupendous undertakings, which we 

 denominate instinct, intelligence, or design. Com- 

 mencing betimes from a depth of a thousand or 

 fifteen hundred feet, they work upwards in a perpen- 

 dicular direction ; and on arriving at the surface 

 form a crescent, presenting the back of the arch in 

 that direction from which the storms and winds 

 generally proceed ; by which means the wall protects 

 the busy millions at work beneath and within. These 

 breakwaters will resist more powerful seas than if 

 formed of granite ; rising as they do in a mighty 

 expanse of water, exposed to the utmost powers of 

 the heavy and tumultuous billows that eternally lash 

 against them. As we glance at the map of the 

 world, and think of the profusion of fragrant vegeta- 

 tion, and delicious food, almost spontaneously pro- 

 duced on the lovely sunny islands of the Pacific, how 

 startling does it seem when we are told that these 

 islands, bearing on their bosoms gardens of Eden, 

 are entirely formed by the slow-growing corals, which, 

 rising up in beautiful and delicate forms, displace the 

 mighty ocean, defy its gigantic strength, and display 

 a shelly bosom to the expanse of day ! The vegeta- 

 tion of the sea, cast on its surface, undergoes a 

 chemical change ; the deposit from rains aids in 

 filling up the Kttle gaping catacomb, the fowls of the 

 air and ocean find a resting-place, and assist in 



