OF THE SOUTH SEAS 203 



caretaker. Motu Uta is about as large as a city build- 

 ing lot, and the coral hummock shelves sharply to a 

 considerable depth. Under this declining reef were 

 the rarest shapes and colors of fish. They swam up 

 and down, and in and out of their blue and pink and 

 ivory-colored homes, slowly and majestically, or darting 

 hither and thither, angered at the intrusion of my canoe 

 in their domain, courting and rubbing fins, repelling in- 

 vaders. The little ones avoiding dexterously the appe- 

 tites of their big friends, and these moving pompously, 

 but warily, seeking what they might devour. 



A collector of corals would find many sorts there. 

 They are wonderful, these stony plants, graceful, 

 strange, bizarre. The Tahitian, who has a score of 

 names for the winds, and who classifies fish not only by 

 their names, but changes these names according to size 

 and age, makes only a few Imnps of the coral. It is 

 to' a, and when round is to' a ati, to'a apu; when branch- 

 ing, urulii, uruana; when in a bank, to'a aau; when above 

 the surface of the water, to'a raa. A submerged mass 

 is to'a faa ruru, and the coral on which the waves break, 

 to'a auau. However, the native knows well that one 

 species of coral, the ahifa, is corrosive, irritating the 

 skin when touched, and another, which is poisoned by 

 the hara plants, is termed to'a harahia. 



Coral makes good lime for whitening walls, and is 

 cut into blocks for building. Many churches in Tahiti 

 were built of coral blocks. The pmiy fortifications 

 erected by the French in the war with the Tahitians 

 decades ago were of coral stones, and are now black with 

 age and weather. 



I headed mv canoe toward the barrier reef, and tied 



