292 THE 



lovely delineation lie has made. You have only to gaze 

 on it, to admire it : I would not abate your admiration ; 

 I admire it too : but remember, after all, it is but a fancy 

 sketch of the unknown ; it is only "founded on fact/' 



" We dive," he observes, " into the liquid crystal of the 

 Indian Ocean, and it opens to us the most wondrous 

 enchantments of the fairy tales of our childhood's dreams. 

 The strangely branching thickets bear living flowers. 

 Dense masses of Meandrinas and Astrseas contrast with 

 the leafy, cup-shaped expansions of the Explanarias, the 

 variously-ramified Madrepores, which are now spread out 

 like fingers, now rise in trunk-like branches, and now 

 display the most elegant array of interlacing branches. 

 The colouring surpasses everything : vivid green alternates 

 with brown or yellow ; rich tints of purple, from pale red- 

 brown to the deepest blue. Brilliant rosy, yellow, or 

 peach-coloured Nullipores overgrow the decaying masses, 

 and are themselves interwoven with the pearl-coloured 

 plates of the Retipores, resembling the most delicate ivory 

 carvings. Close by, wave the yellow and lilac fans, per- 

 forated like trellis-work, of the Gorgonias. The clear 

 sand of the bottom is covered with the thousand strano-e 



o 



forms and tints of the sea-urchins, and star-fishes. The 

 leaf -like Mustras and Escharas adhere like mosses and 

 lichens to the branches of the corals ; the yellow, green, 

 and purple-striped Limpets cling like monstrous cochineal 

 insects upon their trunks. Like gigantic cactus-blossoms, 

 sparkling in the most ardent colours, the Sea-anemones 

 expand their crowns of tentacles upon the broken rocks, 



