28 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. ii 



times the water and the reef seem to assume a position of 

 armed neutrality towards one another, and each one holds 

 his own for years together. 



Whilst the surveying officer was engaged in taking 

 his observations, I wandered about upon the slimy muddy 

 shores and coral reefs, watching the active little squillas 

 darting about amongst the corals, admiring the gorgeous 

 colours with which the polypes are painted, and selecting 

 a number of rare or interesting creatures for future 

 examination. It was an immense pleasure to be at last 

 upon a living coral reef, to be able to see for myself 

 hundreds of the forms of animal life I had read about in 

 books at home, and to correct by personal observation some 

 of the many erroneous impressions I had gained by arm- 

 chair work. I think that the fact which most astonished 

 me was the extreme variety to be seen about me, the immense 

 number of things of all kinds and of every description 

 which lie about in such a spot as this. If the accounts given 

 of coral reefs fail to convey a true conception of what a 

 coral reef is like, it is, perhaps, because they are more 

 accurate in certain details than comprehensive. There are 

 many animals quite unknown to the average reader, and I 

 might say the ordinary traveller, bearing no names that 

 convey any concrete idea to any one who is not a 

 specialist in the particular branch of Natural History to 

 which they belong. A long list of the Latin names of the 

 corals of a reef, for example, conveys no impression even 

 to many zoologists of the infinite variations of form, struc- 

 ture, and colour which those corals actually present in the 

 living state ; and the same might be said of the members 

 of every other group of the animal kingdom. A coral reef 

 cannot be properly described. It must be seen to be 

 thoroughly appreciated. 



Our work upon the promontory finished, we started in 



