362 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



The lagoon islands have received much 

 attention ; which " is not surprising, for every 

 one must be struck with astonishment, when 

 he first beholds one of these vast rings of 

 coral-rock, often many leagues in diameter, 

 here and there surmounted by a low verdant 

 island with dazzling white shores, bathed on 

 the outside by the foaming breakers of the 

 ocean, and on the inside surrounding a calm 

 expanse of water, which, from reflection is 

 generally of a bright but pale green colour. 

 The naturalist will feel this astonishment more 

 deeply after having examined the soft and 

 almost gelatinous bodies of these apparently 

 insignificant coral-polypifers, and when he 

 knows that the solid reef increases only on the 

 outer edge, which day and night is lashed by 

 the breakers of an ocean never at rest. Well 

 did FranQois Pyrard de Laval, in the year 

 1605 exclaim, ' C'est une merveille de voir 

 chacun de ces atoUons, environn^ d'un grand 

 banc de pierre tout autour, n'y ayant point 

 d'artifice humain.' " ■* 



Of the enchanting beauty of the coral beds 



1 Darwin, Coral Beefs. 



