THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



485 



my mind much grandeur in the view of the outer shores of 

 these lagoon-islands. There is a simplicity in the barrier- 

 like beach, the margin of green bushes and tall cocoa-nuts 

 the solid flat of dead coral-rock, strewed here and there 

 with great loose fragments, and the line of furious break- 

 ers, all rounding away towards either hand The ocean 

 throwing its waters over the broad reef appears an invinci- 

 ble, all-powerful enemy; yet we see it resisted, and even 

 conquered by means which at first seem most weak and in- 

 efficient. It is not that the ocean spares the rock of coral- 

 the great fragments scattered over the reef, and heaped on 

 the beach, whence the tall cocoa T nut springs, plainly be- 

 speak the unrelenting power of the waves. Nor are any 

 periods of repose granted. The long swell caused by the 

 gentle but steady action of the trade-wind, always blow- 

 ing m one direction over a wide area, causes breakers, almost 

 equalling in force those during a gale of wind in the tem- 

 perate regions, and which never cease to rage. It is impos- 

 sible to behold these waves without feeling a conviction that 

 an island, though built of the hardest rock, let it be porphyry 

 granite, or quartz, would ultimately yield and be demolished 

 by such an irresistible power. Yet these low, insignificant 

 coral-islets stand and are victorious: for here another power 

 as an antagonist, takes part in the contest. The organic forces' 

 separate the atoms of carbonate of lime, one by one, from 

 the foaming breakers, and unite them into a symmetrical 

 structure. Let the hurricane tear up its thousand huge frag- 

 ments; yet what will that tell against the accumulated labour 

 of myriads of architects at work night and day, month after 

 month ? Thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a 

 polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering 

 the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which 

 neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature 

 could successfully resist. 



We did not return on board till late in the evening, for we 

 stayed a long time in the lagoon, examining the fields of 

 coral and the gigantic shells of the chama, into which, if a 

 man were to put his hand, he would not, as long as the ani- 

 mal lived, be able to withdraw it. Near the head of the 

 lagoon I was much surprised to find a wide area, consider- 



