In Coral-Land 
99 
their homes upon the tombs of their an¬ 
cestors, so to speak, until they in their 
turn perish and add their skeletons to 
the growing structure. 
“ The most wonderful of all coral is that 
found in the coral reefs, which are so old 
that the most ancient fish in all fishdom, 
or his great-grandfather before him, could 
not tell when they were begun; and so 
hard and enduring that the storms of 
centuries have never been able to destroy 
them. But strong as they are, the 
mighty ocean, (both friend and foe to 
the coral), is still stronger, and in time 
the constant washing and beating of the 
tides wear away portions of the hard 
rock, changes the formation of the reefs, 
and helps in a large measure in the ma¬ 
king of the lovely coral islands. But 
still the coral goes on growing, the living 
polyps protecting the dead coral below 
