e
humain.'"[62]

Of the enchanting beauty of the coral beds themselves we are assured
that language conveys no adequate idea. "There were corals," says Prof.
Ball, "which, in their living state, are of many shades of fawn, buff,
pink, and blue, while some were tipped with a magenta-like bloom.
Sponges which looked as hard as stone spread over wide areas, while
sprays of coralline added their graceful forms to the picture. Through
the vistas so formed, golden-banded and metallic-blue fish meandered,
while on the patches of sand here and there Holothurias and various
mollusca and crustaceans might be seen slowly crawling."

Abercromby also gives a very graphic description of a Coral reef. "As we
approached," he says, "the roaring surf on the outside, fingery lumps of
beautiful live coral began to appear of the palest lavender-blue colour;
and when at last we were almost within the spray, the whole floor was
one mass of living branches of coral.

"But it is only when venturing as far as is prudent into the water, over
the outward edge of the great sea wall, that the true character of the
reef and all the beauties of the ocean can be really seen. After
walking over a flat uninteresting tract of nearly bare rock, you look
down and see a steep irregular wall, expanding deeper into the ocean
than the eye can follow, and broken into lovely grottoes and holes and
canals, through which small resplendent fish of the brightest blue or
gold flit fitfully between the lumps of coral. The sides of these
natural grottoes are entirely covered with endless forms of
tender-coloured coral, but all beautiful, and all more or less of the
fingery or branching species, known as madrepores. It is really
impossible to draw or describe the sight, which must be taken with all
its surroundings as adjuncts."[63]

The vegetation of these fairy lands is also very lovely; the Coral tree
(Erythrina) with light green leaves and bunches of scarlet blossoms, the
Cocoa-nut always beautiful, the breadfruit, the graceful tree ferns, the
Barringtonia, with large pink and white flowers, several species of
Convolvulus, and many others unknown to us even by name.

THE SOUTHERN SKIES

In considering these exquisite scenes, the beauty of the Southern skies
must not be omitted. "From the time we entered the torrid zone," says
Humboldt, "we were never wearied with admiring, every night, the beauty
of the southern sky, which, as we advanced towards the south,