50 ALOXU THE FLORIDA REEF. 



Tom, while the doctor and the rest of the expe- 

 dition, with Long John, followed in the Rosetta. 

 Before long they left the channel, and came sud- 

 denly upon the reef, which here rose almost per- 

 pendicularly from the channel and bristled with 

 innumerable points of coral. Deep down among 

 the green moss-fronds an anemone, looking much 

 like the weird passion-flower, turned its fair face 

 toward them ; angel-fish dashed by, their gay 

 bands and wing-like fins resplendent with color ; 

 gayly striped morays darted in and out of the 

 shadows of the sea-fans and feathers, and the 

 gorgonias, brilliant with rainbow-tints, were sur- 

 rounded by duller-hued conchs and hermit crabs, 

 sea-eggs, and devil-fish. 



" Isn't it wonderful ! " exclaimed Tom. And 

 indeed it was. In a moment they had passed 

 from the blue water to a veritable garden of 

 coral spread over acres of reef ; in shoal water 

 and deep ; on hill-side and plain ; in forest-like 

 groups and garden-like beds, in clusters, in cir- 

 cles, in hedges ; domes like the round-topped 

 mosque of the Orient ; sponge forms that mocked 

 the Turkish minaret ; Laplandish huts and the 



