chap, xx.] SEA GARDENS. 463 



the water afforded me one of the most astonishing and 

 beautiful sights I have ever beheld. The bottom was 

 absolutely hidden by a continuous series of corals, sponges, 

 actinias, and other marine productions, of magnificent 

 dimensions, varied forms, and brilliant colours. The depth 

 varied from about twenty to fifty feet, and the bottom was 

 very uneven, rocks and chasms and little hills and valleys, 

 offering a variety of stations for the growth of these animal 

 forests. In and out among them, moved numbers of blue 

 and red and yellow fishes, spotted and banded and striped 

 in the most striking manner, while great orange or rosy 

 transparent medusae floated along near the surface. It was 

 a sight to gaze at for hours, and no description can do jus- 

 tice to its surpassing beauty and interest. For once, the 

 reality exceeded the most glowing accounts I had ever 

 read of the wonders of a coral sea. There is perhaps no 

 spot in the world richer in marine productions, corals, 

 shells and fishes, than the harbour of Amboyna. 



From the north side of the harbour, a good broad path 

 passes through swamp clearing and forest, over hill and 

 valley, to the farther side of the island; the coralline 

 rock constantly protruding through the deep red earth 

 which fills all the hollows, and is more or less spread over 

 the plains and hill-sides. The forest vegetation is here 

 of the most luxuriant character ; ferns and palms abound, 

 and the climbing rattans were more abundant than I had 



