22 CORAL AND ATOLLS 



hair tends to persist in a race, despite tlie original straightness 

 of the Malay locks. 



Ross Primus was not in the islands at the time of Darwin's 

 visit, and the place had been left in charge of one Leisk, who 

 was one of the original colonists, and had been mate of 

 the Borneo. Leisk figm'es again in the history of the settle- 

 ment, and not in a very glorious light, but in connection with 

 Darwin's visit he is only remarkable as being the author 

 of those errors in the great naturalist's account of the 

 atoll that lent support to the Theory of Subsidence of Coral 

 Reefs. 



It was under Leisk's guidance that Darwin examined 

 the atoll, and the information that was imparted to Darwin 

 was certainly not reliable, and in some cases I believe 

 that there is no doubt that the inaccuracies of Leisk's 

 statements influenced Darwin in his conception of the mode 

 of formation of the group. In some measure, therefore, Leisk 

 helped on the cause of the Theory of the Subsidence of 

 Atolls. 



With the departure of Hare, Ross Primus, Avith the 

 rule of the whole atoll in his hands, did not at first 

 find his path an easy one. The time of his assuming 

 the sole authority was when the great southern whaling 

 industry was still in a very flourishing condition, and when all 

 the scum of the maritime populations of three continents was 

 afloat in the Southern Ocean. In those days Cocos-Keeling 

 was a place of call for whalers, for fresh water and fresh 

 provisions were always to be had there. The ordeal of a 

 prolonged cruise in a whaler was an experience that every 

 sailor shrank from, and when, after months of hardships and 

 brutality, the creAvs got ashore in the islands, they generally 

 rejoined the ship with some of their number lacking. Many 

 are the island tales of deserted whalers and their doings, 

 but one runaway deserves special notice, for he became the 

 subject of a petition to Sir T. B. Capel, and came near to 

 making Avhite man's war in the peaceful island settlement. 

 This man was an American named Joseph Raymond, Avho 



