THE LAGOON 193 



In the Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. v. p. 570, 

 he says : " The corals on the shallow flats naturally sufFered 

 most from the intensity of the destructive fluid, and even 

 when I examined this locality twelve and a half years after 

 the event much of it appeared a lifeless waste. The dead 

 trunks and branches of the arborescent Madrepores that had 

 once flourished here literally covered the bottom in places. 

 Multitudes of the shells of the Tridacnm, rotten and decayed, 

 strewed the ground ; and even the pits displayed on their 

 bare slopes numbers of dead detached plates of Uchinopora 

 lamellosa that had once clustered thickly around their sides. 

 Yet it was evident enough that the corals were in places 

 beginning to resume their sway. Thus, the flats immediately 

 south of New Selma have long since been clothed afresh with 

 rapid-growing branching Montiporce and other corals ; and 

 even where life seemed completely absent, a closer inspection 

 usually discovered a few young growing corals and small 

 living clams. However, at least a quarter of a century will 

 have to succeed the event before the growth of corals can 

 disguise the destructive effects of 1876." In 1905 and 1906 

 I spent very many days in drifting all over this eastern area 

 of the lagoon. With a companion in a boat, a start would be 

 made from the south, and as, with the wind and tide, the 

 boat slowly drifts over the lagoon, every foot of the bottom 

 may be carefully examined. Anything that demanded close 

 examination was dived for, or waded to, and in this way 

 a very intimate knowledge was acquired of the present state 

 of the coral growth. Although thirty years have gone by 

 since the pouring forth of this destructive water, distinct 

 evidence of its effects are still abundantly clear ; and the 

 time of final repair must certainly be put forward considerably 

 beyond Dr. Guppy's limit. There are many places to-day 

 where there are practically no signs of life amongst the dead 

 coral masses that cover the bottom, and algas have for the 

 most part been the successors of the coral life. 



I have watched the dead coral fields for a period of fifteen 

 months, and failed to detect any signs of life in some portions 



