62 Fish Stories 



mer, and multitudes of these little fishes, together with 

 young eels and young damsel-fishes, would escape from 

 the debris. In memory of his services, one of the least of 

 little fishes bears the name of Eviota afelei. 



Next in the crevices of the reef itself, were swarms of 

 eels of many species, only to be dislodged by the poison of 

 chloride of lime, when they will rush across the land with 

 more than a snake's celerity. Many of these are morays, 

 with large mouths and savage teeth — fiercest of all fishes, 

 for they will strike like a snake once they are at bay. The 

 great morays of these reefs reach a length of six feet, and a 

 diameter of six inches. If they are caught alive they will 

 clear a boat of natives, for they come on with upreared 

 head, knife-like teeth, and jaws as strong as a steel trap. 

 Many of these great eels are fantastically colored, but their 

 striking quality is not the brilliancy of the yellow, brown 

 and green of their skins, but rather in the fantastic way the 

 colors are laid on. 



In all the little pools, as stated above, reside a multitude 

 of small fishes, some armed with stinging spines, some 

 colored and marked like the bottoms on which they lie, and 

 some defiant of all enemies, flaunting the most gorgeous 

 colors of the garden and the rainbow, but with movements 

 as quick as chain lightning, so that no enemy takes ad- 

 vantage of the fact that they are so easily seen. 



It was of fishes like these that Palmerston wrote, in the 

 voyage of Captain Cook : 



" At one part of the reef which bounds the lake within, 

 almost even with the surface, there was a bed of coral, 

 which afforded a most enchanting prospect. Its base, which 

 was fixed to the shore, extended so far that it could not be 

 seen, so that it appeared to be suspended in the water. The 

 sea was then unruffled, and the refulgence of the sun ex- 

 posed the various sorts of coral in the most beautiful order; 

 some parts luxuriantly branching in the water, others ap- 

 pearing in vast varieties of figures, and the whole greatly 



