CH. I FIB8T GLIMPSES OF CELEBES 15 



Malay seaman's belief in the efficacy of this mode of 

 raising the wind is a serious one and will not brook being 

 made an object of derision. 



Soon after midnight a favourable breeze sprang up, and 

 by sunrise we were passing the little islands of Ganga 

 and Tindela. A little later we struck the strong current 

 running through the straits which separate Tindela from 

 Talisse, at the time in our favour, and soon after we 

 were bumping on the coral reefs which fringe the shores 

 of the latter island. This was my first introduction to a 

 coral reef, and, notwithstanding the fatigue of a sleep- 

 less night journey and an intense desire to reach my desti- 

 nation, I could not help gazing with wonder and admiration 

 on the marvellous sight that was to be seen at the bottom 

 of the transparent shallow waters of the reef. I had ex- 

 pected to see a wonderful variety of graceful shapes in the 

 branching madrepores and the fan-like, feather-like alcyona- 

 rians, for these may be seen in any large museum which pos- 

 sesses a collection of such things, but I was not prepared 

 to find such brilliancy and variety of colour on the reefs. 



The madrepores, which ru the dried collections are 

 uniformly white, in the living state are of a bright olive 

 brown colour, with growing points and polypes of bright 

 emerald green or violet, and the pale-yellow or white 

 starfishes of our museums seem to be studded here with 

 rare jewels which shine and sparkle with all the colours of 

 the rainbow. Soon after we struck the reef of Talisse, the 

 tide turned with a current of some five or six knots against 

 us ; our kamudi wished to drop an anchor until the 

 following tide, but as we could already see the steam- 

 cutters of the ' Flying Fish ' taking off the surveying parties 

 to different points upon the straits, we urged our men to 

 further exertions with the paddles and succeeded in reach- 

 ing the little wooden pier at Koa before midday. The 



