ON CORAL REEFS AND ISLANDS. 



The annexed sketch conveys some idea of the peculiar features 

 presented by a Pacific island and its encircling reefs, though in 

 order to fill out the scene, the jagged heights and deep gorges of 

 the island should be covered with forests and the shores with 

 groves and native villages. The coral platform which borders the 



shore is represented with its usual uneven line, its broad harbors 

 with a narrow entrance, and to the left, an irregular ship chan- 

 nel running between the inner or fringing reef, and the outer or 

 barrier. At a single place, the sea is faced by a cliff; and here, 

 owing to the boldness of the shores and depth of waters, the reef 

 is wanting. To the right there is only a fringing reef. 



Coral islands. — Coral islands resemble the reefs just described, 

 except that a lake or lagoon is encircled instead of a mountainous 

 island. A narrow rim of coral reef, generally but a few hundred 

 yards wide, stretches around the enclosed waters. In some parts 

 the reef is so low that the waves are still dashing over it into the 

 lagoon ; in others it is verdant with the rich foliage of the tropics. 

 The coral-made land when highest is seldom more than eight 

 or ten feet above high tide. 



When first seen from the deck of a vessel, only a series of 

 dark points is descried just above the horizon. Shortly after, the 

 points enlarge into the plumed tops of cocoa-nut trees, and a line 

 of green, interrupted at intervals, is traced along the water's sur- 

 face. Approaching still nearer, the lake and its belt of verdure 

 are spread out before the eye, and a scene of more interest can 



scarcely be imagined. The surf beating loud and heavy along the 

 margin of the reef, presents a strange contrast to the prospect be- 

 yond, — the white coral beach, the massy foliage of the grove, 

 and the embosomed lake with its tiny islets. The color of the 

 lagoon water is often as blue as the ocean, although but fifteen 

 or twenty fathoms deep; yet shades of green and yellow are in- 

 termingled, where patches of sand or coral-knolls are near the 

 surface ; and the green is a delicate apple-shade, quite unlike the 

 ordinary muddy tint of shallow waters. 



The belt of verdure, though sometimes continuous around the 

 lagoon, is usually broken into islets separated by varying intervals 



