272 CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



seen gliding over the waters. As it is, the inhabitants are 

 swarthy and nearly naked savages, having little about them 

 that is pleasant to contemplate ; and their canoes with a clum- 

 sy outrigger to keep them right side up, as well as their 

 thatched huts, are as little in harmony as themselves with na- 

 ture's grace and loveliness. 



Where the islets of a coral reef are heaped up blocks of cor- 

 al rock, blackened with lichens, and covered with barely 

 enough of trailing plants and shrubs to make the surface green 

 in the distant view, the traveller, on landing, would be greatly 

 disappointed. But still there is enough that is strange and 

 beautiful, both in the life of the land and sea, and in the his- 

 tory and features of the island, to give enjoyment for many a 

 day. 



The great obstacle to communication with a majority of 

 atolls, especially the smaller, is the absence of an entrance to 

 the lagoon, and hence of a good landing-place. In that case 

 landing can be effected only on the leeward side, and in good 

 weather ; and best, when the tide is low. Even then, the sea 

 often rolls in, so heavily, over the jagged margin of the reef, that 

 it is necessary for the boat to take a chance to mount an in-go- 

 ing wave and ride upon it over the line of breakers, to a stop- 

 ping-place somewhere on the reef or shore-platform. 



Less easy is the return through the breakers, especially if 

 the sea has risen during the ramble ashore. The boat, in or- 

 der to get off again, would naturally take one of the narrow 

 channels or inlets indenting the margin of the reef. But, 

 with the waves tumbling in one after another, roughly lifting 

 and dropping it, as they pass, and with barely room between 

 the rocks for the oars to be used, there is a fair chance of its be- 

 ing dashed against the reefs to its destruction, or thrown 

 broadside to the sea and swamped under a cataract of waters. 



