rk lived is considered volcanic; it
is probably formed in some such manner as that which we have described.
Madeira, too, and probably St. Helena, are volcanic islands.

Pitcairn, the history of which you are now going to read, is also
possibly of volcanic origin, and its high crags and sharp peaks seem as
if they must have been thrown up by some sudden force; but as it is in
the midst of a sea covered with coral islands, and has been supposed by
some to be itself partially formed by coral insects, it may be well that
you should hear a little of the wonderful growth of coral islands,
which, though formed so differently from those of which you have been
reading, are yet, when once their tops have risen above the waves,
clothed in the same manner with fair growth, to prepare them for the
presence of man. Tahiti, which you will hear mentioned in the story of
Pitcairn, is a coral island, and they abound in groups, in pairs, or in
single islands, through the wide Pacific Ocean.

They are formed by myriads of tiny insects, which are connected
together, and seem to share a common life. One of these insects fastens
itself on some hidden rock; sometimes it may be on an extinct volcano
which is not lofty enough to appear above the waves, and on this
foundation they begin to build, the insect, as it shapes its cells of
coral, filling them with beings like itself, so that every tiny chamber
has its inmate. Soon the whole rock is covered below the water with a
fine network of delicate coral, and from the tops of the open cells the
insects put out their delicate _tentaculae_, or arms, which look like
the petals of a flower. By means of the food gathered from the water by
these _tentaculae_, all the coral insects are fed.

[Illustration: Coral Island. (Page 92.)]

Thus each one does its appointed work, laying unseen the foundations of
a new land, for the coral growth is still spreading and rising higher
and higher, till at length the waves begin to feel its resistance, and
to break in white foam around its crests.

Its history, when it has once risen above the reach of the tides, is
like that of the volcanic islands. The insects die, and the bare grey
rock is left, that God's servants, the waves and winds, may fulfil His
will, until in His own good time the coral island becomes lovely and
fertile, fit for the dwelling-place of those who should be God's best
servants--the men whom He has made for His glory, and for whose
redemptio