172 A CRUISE IN THE LACCADIVE SEA 



weather they feared greatly for its safety. Accidents 

 of this kind are not uncommon in the Laccadives. 



As we lay at anchor off Kiltan, I fished for coral 

 with a grapnel, the bottom in 6 fathoms being as clear 

 and plain as a picture, but the only piece that I brought 

 up was dead. On breaking it open I laid bare the 

 burrow of a small species of sea-urchin i^Echinostrephus 

 molare), in appearance something like the bud of a 

 Scotch thistle, which digs into hard coral rock after 

 the fashion of a Pholad, or of a shipworm into timber. 

 The sea-urchin was in the bottom of its burrow, resting 

 upon a small hoard of boiled rice, which it was eating. 

 Of course it will be said that the rice, which no doubt 

 had been thrown overboard from the ship, had simply 

 fallen into the burrow during the sea-urchin's absence, 

 but I convinced myself, by a very careful examination, 

 that this could hardly have been the case. It is 

 certainly difficult to give a sea-urchin credit for so 

 much intelligence and activity as is implied by the 

 storing up of food, but there is a good deal of evi- 

 dence on record to show that among echinoderms 

 the senses are acuter and the intelligence greater than 

 some of us have hitherto imagined. 



By the time that we landed on Kiltan the stars 

 were shining, and although this suited the surveyors 

 it sadly interfered with my plans. 



The following morning we went on to Cardamum 

 Island, which occupies the eastern arc of a large atoll 



