486 
KEELING ISLAND 
CHAP. 
described 1 the natural history of a lagoon island in the Radack 
Archipelago ; and it is remarkable how closely its inhabitants, 
in number and kind, resemble those of Keeling Island. There 
is one lizard and two waders, namely, a snipe and curlew. Of 
plants there are nineteen species, including a fern ; and some 
of these are the same with those growing here, though on a spot 
so immensely remote, and in a different ocean. 
The long strips of land, forming the linear islets, have been 
raised only to that height to which the surf can throw fragments 
of coral, and the wind heap up calcareous sand. The solid flat 
of coral rock on the outside, by its breadth, breaks the first 
violence of the waves, which otherwise, in a day, would sweep 
away these islets and all their productions. The ocean and 
the land seem here struggling for mastery : although terra firma 
has obtained a footing, the denizens of the water think their 
claim at least equally good. In every part one meets hermit 
crabs of more than one species, 2 carrying on their backs the 
shells which they have stolen from the neighbouring beach. 
Overhead numerous gannets, frigate-birds, and terns, rest on 
the trees ; and the wood, from the many nests and from the 
smell of the atmosphere, might be called a sea-rookery. The 
gannets, sitting on their rude nests, gaze at one with a stupid 
yet angry air. The noddies, as their name expresses, are silly 
little creatures. But there is one charming bird : it is a small 
snow-white tern, which smoothly hovers at the distance of a few 
feet above one’s head, its large black eye scanning, with quiet 
curiosity, your expression. Little imagination is required to 
fancy that so light and delicate a body must be tenanted by 
some wandering fairy spirit. 
Sunday , April 3rd .—After service I accompanied Captain 
Fitz Roy to the settlement, situated at the distance of some 
miles, on the point of an islet thickly covered with tall cocoa- 
nut trees. Captain Ross and Mr. Liesk live in a large barn¬ 
like house open at both ends, and lined with mats made of 
woven bark. The houses of the Malays are arranged along 
1 Kotzebue’s First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 222. 
2 The large claws or pincers of some of these crabs are most beautifully adapted, 
when drawn back, to form an operculum to the shell, nearly as perfect as the proper 
one originally belonging to the molluscous animal. I was assured, and as far as my 
observation went I found it so, that certain species of the hermit-crabs always use 
certain species of shells. 
