Admiralty, to mark the principal passage through the great reef by a
beacon, they fixed on Raine's Island, where they disturbed a colony of
another kind. The whole surface of the island, (a small one, of one
thousand yards long by five hundred wide, and in no part more than
twenty feet above high-water mark,) was covered with birds, young and
old; there were frigate birds, gannets, boobies, noddies, and black
and white terns; the only land birds being land-rails. The description
is very peculiar and picturesque. The frigate birds, (who may have
acted as a sort of aristocracy,) had a part completely to themselves;
their nests were a platform of a foot high, on each of which was one
young bird, (the heir to the estate.) But there were young of all
growths, some able to fly, some just hatched, and covered with a
yellowish down. Those which could not fly assumed a fierce aspect at
the approach of strangers, and snapped their beaks. The boobies and
gannets each also formed separate flocks, but few of them had either
eggs or young ones. All the rest of the island was covered with the
eggs and young ones of the terns and noddies. The terns' eggs lay
scattered about the ground, without any nest; the young terns also
seemed each unalterably attached to the spot where it had been
hatched, and immediately returned to it on being driven off.

As night closed in, it was curious to see the long lines and flocks of
birds streaming from all quarters of the horizon towards the island.
The noise was incessant and most tiresome. On walking rapidly into the
centre of the island, countless myriads of birds rose shrieking on
every side, so that the clangour was absolutely deafening, "like the
roar of some great cataract." The voyagers could see no traces of
natives, nor of any other visitors to the island.

Among the wonders of creation is the existence of those myriads of
creatures, wholly beyond the uses of man, living where man had
probably never trod since the Deluge, enjoying life to the full
capabilities of their organisation, sustained by an unfailing
provision, and preserved in health, animation, and animal happiness,
generation after generation, through thousands of years. Such is the
work of divine power; but can it be doubted that it is also the work
of divine benevolence; that the Great Disposer of all takes delight in
giving enjoyment to all the works of his hand; that He rejoices in
multiplying the means of enjoyment, its susc