488 
KEELING ISLAND 
CHAP. 
moon had risen, and it was well worth remaining to behold her 
bright orb so quietly shining through the long arms of the 
cocoa-nut trees as they waved in the evening breeze. These 
scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious that they 
almost equal those dearer ones at home, to which we are 
bound by each best feeling of the mind. 
The next day I employed myself in examining the very 
interesting, yet simple structure and origin of these islands. 
The water being unusually smooth, I waded over the outer flat 
of dead rock as far as the living mounds of coral, on which 
the swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gullies and 
hollows there were beautiful green and other coloured fishes, 
and the form and tints of many of the zoophytes were 
admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic over the 
infinite numbers of organic beings with which the sea of the 
tropics, so prodigal of life, teems ; yet I must confess I think 
those naturalists who have described, in well-known words, the 
submarine grottoes decked with a thousand beauties, have 
indulged in rather exuberant language. 
April 6th -—I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to an island 
at the head of the lagoon : the channel was exceedingly 
intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched corals. 
We saw several turtle, and two boats were then employed in 
catching them. The water was so clear and shallow, that 
although at first a turtle quickly dives out of sight, yet in a 
canoe or boat under sail the pursuers after no very long chase 
come up to it. A man standing ready in the bow at this 
moment dashes through the water upon the turtle’s back ; then 
clinging with both hands by the shell of its neck, he is carried 
away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured. It 
was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats thus 
doubling about, and the men dashing head foremost into the 
water trying to seize their prey. Captain Moresby informs me 
that in the Chagos archipelago in this same ocean, the natives, 
by a horrible process, take the shell from the back of the living 
turtle. “ It is covered with burning charcoal, which causes the 
outer shell to curl upwards ; it is then forced off with a knife, 
and before it becomes cold flattened between boards. After 
this barbarous process the animal is suffered to regain its native 
