474 " AN EDEN OF THE WAVES." 



their sides are so abrupt that a ship's bows may strike 

 against the rock before any change of soundings indicates 

 the approach of danger. 



When the coral mass has finally gained the level of 

 the waves, its surface undergoes disintegration through 

 atmospheric and aqueous action. The sea-birds frequent 

 the oasis among the boisterous waters, and deposit there 

 the refuse of their food. Gradually a thin soil is formed, 

 which the wind sows with the various seeds it bears 

 upon its pinions. These germinate and fructify, and a 

 carpet of verdure spreads over the hitherto rugged and 

 dreary scene. In due time the palm rears its stately 

 trunk upon it, and the work is consummated, after long, 

 long years of patient elaboration, by the development of 

 a coral island, an Eden of the waves, sunned by the glow 

 of tropical skies, and encircled by a zone of sapphire sea. 

 An Eden, but uninhabited by man or animal ; and silent, 

 save for the sounds of air and ocean 



"The myriad shriek of wheeling ocean-fowl, 

 The league-long roller thundering on the reef." 



Different coral animals toil at different depths, and it 

 has even been found that the species labouring on one 

 side of a reef differ from those that labour on the other. 

 When one class of workers give over the task of carrying 

 upward the marvellous submarine fabric, it is continued 

 by a second and robuster phalanx, who, in their turn, 

 give place to a third, and these to a fourth. The charac- 

 ter of the species depends upon the depth and temperature 

 of the waters. Their modes of operation, however, are 

 invariably the same, and a wonderful continuity pervades 

 their work. 



