488 KEELING ISLAND chap. 



moon had risen, and it was well worth remaining to behold her 

 bright orb so quietly shining through the long arms of the 

 cocoa-nut trees as they waved in the evening breeze. These 

 scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious that they 

 almost equal those dearer ones at home, to which we are 

 bound by each best feeling of the mind. 



The next day I employed myself in examining the very 

 interesting, yet simple structure and origin of these islands. 

 The water being unusually smooth, I waded over the outer flat 

 of dead rock as far as the living mounds of coral, on which 

 the swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gullies and 

 hollows there were beautiful green and other coloured fishes, 

 and the form and tints of many of the zoophytes were 

 admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic over the 

 infinite numbers of organic beings with which the sea of the 

 tropics, so prodigal of life, teems ; yet I must confess I think 

 those naturalists who have described, in well-known words, the 

 submarine grottoes decked with a thousand beauties, have 

 indulged in rather exuberant language. 



April 6th. — I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to an island 

 at the head of the lagoon : the channel was exceedingly 

 Intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched corals. 

 We saw several turtle, and two boats were then employed in 

 catching them. The water was so clear and shallow, that 

 although at first a turtle quickly dives out of sight, yet in a 

 canoe or boat under sail the pursuers after no very long chase 

 come up to it. A man standing ready in the bow at this 

 moment dashes through the water upon the turtle's back ; then 

 clinging with both hands by the shell of its neck, he is carried 

 away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured. It 

 was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats thus 

 doubling about, and the men dashing head foremost into the 

 water trying to seize their prey. Captain Moresby informs me 

 that in the Chagos archipelago in this same ocean, the natives, 

 by a horrible process, take the shell from the back of the living 

 turtle. " It is covered with burning charcoal, which causes the 

 outer shell to curl upwards ; it is then forced off with a knife, 

 and before it becomes cold flattened between boards. After 

 this barbarous process the animal is suffered to regain its native 



