MINNIKOY GEOGRAPHY 187 



stone, with embedded bits of shell ; beneath this crust 

 of ''coral stone," which, as it is easy to cut, and be- 

 comes hard when exposed to the air, makes a good 

 building stone, there is another layer of fine sand ; 

 and then, at a depth of about 6 feet from the 

 surface, the ground water is tapped. Upon this 

 narrow strip of coral sand about 4000 people live, if 

 not in such luxury and ease as to excite any envy, 

 yet certainly not in poverty and sordid toil, but in 

 a happy mean of sober diligence and modest suffi- 

 ciency that to the white man, discouraged and dis- 

 mayed by the frightful contrasts which he often sees 

 in his own opulent societies, seems like an ode of 

 Horace come true, or like a survival of the Golden 

 Age. 



The lagoon enclosed by the atoll is about 5 

 miles long and over 2 miles in its greatest breadth, 

 and has a good main entrance at its northern end, 

 as well as several safe though narrow passages for 

 boats along its western side. Though it is deep, in 

 places carrying over 6 fathoms of water, it is 

 dangerous, by reason of numerous shoals and pinnacles 

 of coral ; but safe approaches to the shore have been 

 marked off by beacons, for the islanders are expert 

 in all the arts appertaining to navigation. 



One lands on the beach of the lagoon near the 

 middle of the western shore of the island, where, in a 

 thick grove of coconut palms, there is a compact and 



