252 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



construct their fairy-like dwellings ; how, infinitesimal 

 as they are, the aggregate result of their toil is 

 enormous, comparing to easiest advantage with the 

 most stupendous works of man ; how, too, all this 

 labour is directed by some supreme intelligence into 

 the most beautiful structural forms, comparable only 

 with the most delicate tracery of leaf and blossom in 

 the vegetable world. Here alone may be found the 

 most satisfying food for thought that the most ardent 

 mind could desire, even if the privilege of viewing 

 these marvels in situ has been denied. The actual 

 contemplation of them breeds awe and reverence and 

 a fuller appreciation of the wonders of the mighty 

 deep than any previous and dissimilar acquaintance 

 with those wonders would have appeared to make 

 possible. Enjoying as I do most keenly the works 

 of Nature observers, such as Richard Jefferies, Charles 

 Gr. D. Harper, Richard Kearton, and others, I am 

 bound to say that an even richer field awaits the 

 enthusiast who shall devote a year or two to close 

 and constant study of the work of the denizens of 

 a coral reef, and write of them and their labours in 

 the same spirit of loving appreciation, based upon 

 close observation, as the writers already mentioned 

 have done. 



Leaving for a while the coral islands of the Indian 

 Ocean, let us take a flying glance at that wonderful 

 broken series of volcanic lands which border this ocean 

 on the east. They are, of all the earth's surface, the 

 most closely allied to the great cosmic changes that 

 are occurring in our age, being honeycombed with 

 volcanic outlets, and subject to the most appalling 

 manifestations of subterranean energy. One of the 



