THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 251 



and spray upon the horizontal and gently broken 

 surface." Contrasting strongly with the tumult and 

 confusion of the hoary billows ^vithout, the water 

 within the lagoon exhibits the serene placidity of a 

 mill-pond. Extending downwards to a depth varying 

 from a few feet to fifty fathoms, the waters possess 

 the lively green hue common to soundings on a white 

 or yellow ground ; while the surface, unruffled by a 

 wave, reflects with accurate distinctness the mast of 

 the canoe that sleeps upon its bosom, and the tufts of 

 the cocoa-nut plumes that rise from the beach above 

 it. Such is a Coral Island, and if its appearance is 

 one of singular loveliness, as all who have seen it 

 testify, its structure, on examination, is found to be 

 no less interesting and wonderful. The beach of 

 white sand, wliich opposes the whole force of the 

 Ocean, is found to be the summit of a rock which 

 rises abruptly from an unknown depth, like a per- 

 pendicular wall. The whole of this rampart, as far 

 as our senses can take cognizance of it, is composed 

 of living coral, and the same substance forms the 

 foundation of the curved and more elevated side 

 which is smiling in the luxuriance and beauty of 

 tropical vegetation. Tlie elevation of the coral to 

 the surface is not always abruptly perpendicular ; 

 sometimes reefs of varying depths extend to a con- 

 siderable distance in the form of successive platforms 

 or terraces. In these regions may be seen islands in 

 every stage of their formation : " some presenting 

 little more than a poirit or summit of a branching 

 coralline pyramid, at a depth scarcely discernible 

 through the transparent waters ; others spreading, 



