634 



FISHING DOG CORALS. 



April 



almost like that of a turtle, within which are two rows of saw- 

 like teeth. — Mr. Stokes saw a dog, (bred on the island), catch 

 three such fish in the course of a few hours by chasing them 

 in shallow water, springing after them, almost as a kangaroo 

 springs on land. Sometimes one would take shelter under a 

 rock, when the dog would drive it out ^vith his paw, and seize 

 it with his mouth as it bolted. 



Among the great variety of corals forming the walls around 

 the immediately visible basement, and the under-water forests 

 of the Keeling islands, there is more difference than between 

 a lily of the valley and a gnarled oak. Some are fragile and 

 delicate, of various colours, and just like vegetables to the eye, 

 others are of a solid description, like petrified tropical plants ; 

 but all these grow within the outer reef, and chiefly in the 

 lagoons.* 



The wall, or outer reef, about which so much has been said 

 and thought, by able men, without their having arrived at 

 any definite conclusion, is solid and rock-like, with a smooth 

 surface ; and where the surf is most violent, there the coral 

 is fullest of animated matter. I was anxious to ascertain if 

 possible, to what depth the living coral extended, but my 

 efforts were almost in vain, on account of a surf always violent, 

 and because the outer wall is so solid that I could not detach 

 pieces from it lower down than five fathoms. Small anchors, 

 hooks, grappling irons, and chains were all tried — and one after 

 another broken by the swell almost as soon as we ' hove a 

 strain"* upon them with a ' purchase** in our largest boats. 

 Judging however, from impressions made upon a large lead, 

 the end of which was widened, and covered with tallow 

 hardened with lime, and from such small fragments as we 

 could raise, I concluded that the coral was not alive at a depth 

 exceeding seven fathoms below low water. But this subject 

 has been, or will be, fully discussed by Mr. Darwin, therefore 

 I need say no more. 



* One kind of coral, while alive, stings human flesh painfully when 

 touched by it. Another kind is so hard that it gives sparks when struck 

 by steel. 



