XVI.

CORAL REEFS AND CAVES IN THE PACIFIC.

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC—HOW THEY HAVE BEEN FORMED—WHAT THE CORAL IS—THE WONDROUS ARCHITECTS OF THE SEA—WHAT A UNITED STATES STEAMER SAW—HOW THE CORAL IS FISHED FOR—ROMANTIC STORY OF A CAVERN—HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED—AN ELOPEMENT AND EXERCISE IN DIVING—LOVE AND TURTLES—A BATTLE IN THE WATER—KILLED BY SHARKS—A MAIDEN’S GRIEF—THE PERIL OF A LOVER—SURPRISING A FATHER-IN-LAW—END OF A SUBMARINE COURTSHIP.

The waters of the Pacific ocean contain thousands of islands far away from the coast. Their presence is recognized, long before they become visible, by clouds directly above them in the otherwise clear sky. The land absorbs the heat of the sun, and accumulates it faster than the water; soon an ascending current of warm air is formed, carrying up moisture into the colder regions of the atmosphere, where it is condensed and forms clouds. A similar phenomenon is observed in our western plains, where the sky is frequently clear enough in the morning, but by ten or eleven o’clock, enough heat has been accumulated to cause the formation of clouds.

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The islands of the Pacific are of two kinds, called the higher and the lower. The lower rise but seven, ten, and rarely as high as one hundred feet above the level of the sea; while the higher islands reach an elevation of 10,000, 12,000, and even 15,000 feet. There is no transition between them. The most remarkable are the lower islands. Their appearance is very peculiar. In the first place, the eye is arrested by a white beach; then comes a line of verdure, due to tropical trees; then a lagoon of quiet water, of a whitish or a yellowish color, then another line of verdure, and finally, beyond all, the dark, blue waves of the ocean. Whitsuntide Island is a remarkable model of the structure of these islands:

It is a ring rising seven or eight feet above the sea level, enclosing a lagoon, and presenting the characteristics just described. The lagoon inside is but a few fathoms deep; but on the outside of the island, the water is fifteen thousand feet deep. Here, then, we evidently have a tower-like structure reaching up from the bottom of the sea, and having a depression in its summit. Some of these lower islands are fifty miles across, but most of them are not so large. In some the ring is broken at several points, and these are designated by the Malay wordatoll.

The island of Tahiti, the principal one of the Society Islands is a good example of the second class or higher islands. It rises seven thousand to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, has no lagoon in its center, but a crater, and the water around it is very deep. It may, in fact, be considered as a mountain rising to a height of some eighteen thousand feet from the bottom of the sea. Outside of it is a double girdle of low islands, one near, which Darwin calls a fringing reef, and one further out, to which he gives the name of a barrier reef.

On examining these reefs, and the lower islands, their structure will be found made up entirely of animal remains, generation after generation having left their homes, consisting of limestone, to accumulate there. On the top, we find these animals living and growing, in all colors, shapes, and sizes. The highest islands, on the contrary, except those near the continent, like Borneo, Sumatra, etc., are entirely volcanic, and do not contain sandstone, granite, or gneiss, like the mountains of the continent.

The limestone of the lower islands is not due to sedimental deposits from the ocean, but is the work of the coral animal, the great architect of the sea.

WHAT THE CORAL IS.

The great savant, Prof. Agassiz, describes them as follows:

“These animals are but a sac, like the finger of a glove, only more leathery. Around the mouth is a series of tentacles, formed by a prolongation of the skin. They are all skin, in fact, and have no special organs, yet they digest food withtremendous rapidity, absorbing it directly. It makes no difference if you turn them inside out; they will digest just as well as before. You cannot kill them by dividing them; for they live all over, like a plant. For this reason they have been called zoöphytes.[1]If you cut one into eight parts, each part will live and set up in business for itself. Like all other animals, however, they grow out of eggs. The eggs are formed within the skin, which is double, and divided into cells by partitions or septa. When mature, they detach themselves, move about in the water until they find a favorable place, and then establish a new colony. They do not contribute to the growth of their parent colony, which is effected in another way.

[1]The term Zoöphyte is applied to simple polyps and compound individuals consisting of many polyps united together, as in most corals. They often branch like vegetation, and the polyps resemble flowers in form.

“On examining a piece of coral, it is seen to be full of little holes, popularly supposed to be the places for the stomachs of the animals, but this is not so, at all; the coral animal does not form a secretion around it like the mollusks,[2]but inside, between the two folds of its skin. Coral is, therefore, the bones and not the skull of the animal. As before stated, these animals work in societies or colonies, and their tendency is to repeat the forms peculiar to each species; thus we have corals shaped like a hand, like the branches of trees, like mushrooms, like a brain, with its convolutions. They grow and multiply in these societies by budding or gemmation. The side of the animal begins to bulge out, and the protuberance so formed develops into a new mouth, which soon eats and digests for itself, but does not separate from its parent. This process goes on symmetrically, and produces the variety of regular shapes just described.

[2]Mollusks are invertebrate animals, having a soft, fleshy body, which is inarticulate, and not radiate internally.

“Some distance below the surface, we no longer find these beautiful shapes, but a dense, solid, coral rock. Take for instance, the coral reefs of Florida. Beginning one hundred

WHAT THE CORAL IS.

and twenty feet below the surface, we first find about thirty feet of massive rock, then the astræa,[3]then the meandrina,[4]and about ten feet below the surface the palmata or hand-shaped coral. In the shallow mud between the reefs and the continent, there are multitudes of branching corals of the most beautiful forms, colors, and delicacy of structure. The production of coral rock is explained partly by the mechanical action of the waves, and partly by the destruction of the coral insect by the sea urchin and other animals that feed on it. The waves disintegrate the structure formed by the animal, and then roll back the coral sand, thus produced upon it, where it undergoes a process of induration in the course of time.

[3]Astræa, a coral in the shape of a star.

[4]Meandrina, a genus of corals with meandering cells, as the brain-stone coral.

“It is an interesting question how the structure ever rises above the water level, seeing that the animal which makes it cannot live out of the water. The little architects retain enough sea water to last them over until the next tide, and are so enabled to work up to the highest water-mark. Actinia have been observed all closed up on the rock at low water, and then suddenly opened like magnificent flowers, five and six inches in diameter, when the tide rose.”

So far, what Mr. Agassiz says of them; now let us try and look at them ourselves. In the hot, summer months, when the waters are bringing forth the moving creature that has life, millions of diminutive, jelly-like spawn are thrown out by the parent animal. For a while, they enjoy their freedom, and seem to luxuriate in the exercise of their powers of locomotion, which they are never hereafter to recover; but soon they become weary, and settle down upon some firm, stationary body. At once they begin to change their form; they become star-like, the mouth being surrounded by tentacles, very much as the center of a flower is surrounded by its leaves. After some time, each one of these ray-like parts pushes out extensions, which in their turn assume the shape of tiny stars, and establish their own existence by means of an independent mouth. In the meanwhile, lime has been deposited at thebase of the little animal, by its own unceasing activity, and forms a close-fitting foot, which adheres firmly to the rock. Upon this slender foundation arises another layer, and thus by incessant labor, story upon story, until at last a tree has grown up with branches spreading in all directions. But where the plants of the upper world bear leaves and flowers, there buds forth here, from the hard stone, a living, sensitive animal, moving at will, and clad in the gay form and bright colors of a flower.

This flower is the animal itself, seen only in its native element, and unfit for air and light. What we call coral is its house, outside of which it prefers to live, rather than within.

How they build their dwelling, human eye has never seen. We only know that the tiny animals, by some mysterious power, absorb without ceasing the almost imperceptible particles of lime which are contained in all salt-water, and deposit them, one by one, in the interior. This is done, now more, now less actively; and the denser the deposit is, the more valuable the coral. Gradually this substance hardens and thickens, until, in the precious coral, theIsis Nobilesof science, a large tree is formed, which often reaches the size of a man’s waist. It is perfectly solid and compact, and adorned on the surface with delicate parallel lines. Thus, on the tree-shaped limestone, grows the life-endowed body of the polypus; it moves, it feeds, it produces others, and then is turned again into stone, burying itself in its own rocky house, whilst on its grave new generations build unceasingly new abodes.

This is the so-called blood-coral, the favorite of antiquity, and the fashion of our day—next to the pearl, the most precious jewel of the deep.

It is not easy to obtain a piece of living coral, for the purpose of studying its wondrous structure, and admiring its exceeding beauty. The great depth at which the mysterious little animals dwell in the ocean, secures them against the mere amateur fisherman; and the professional coral-fisher in the Mediterranean, the son of superstitious races of SouthernItaly, is even extremely reluctant to admit outsiders into the secrets of his trade. However, they seem only to seek very superficially. As a proof of this assertion, we cite the following example:

The United States Steamer Gettysburg, while on her way from Fayal to Gibraltar, recently made a discovery of considerable importance, in the shape of an immense coral bank (hitherto totally unknown), in latitude 36° 30´, longitude 11° 28´. Partial surveys were made, and the least depth of water noted was one hundred and eighty feet, which, in mid-ocean, is very significant. Twenty miles west of the bank, the sounding line marks sixteen thousand five hundred feet, and between the bank and Cape St. Vincent, twelve thousand feet. The commander of the Gettysburg believes that in some portions the coral rises to the surface. How such a reef, in a part of the ocean which is constantly traversed by vessels, can have remained undiscovered is almost inexplicable. It is also stated that the bank is rich in valuable coral of light pink shades of color.

CORAL FISHING.

The coral fishing is done in this way: a large net is fastened by a stout rope to the stern of the vessel. At the end of this rope hangs first an iron cross, consisting of two hollow tubes, laid cross-wise, through which strong ash poles have been thrust, and to this are fastened a number of old sardine-nets, no longer fit for their first purpose, and countless ends and bits of wide-meshed pieces of rope, as thick as a finger—the whole apparatus a mass of rags and rotten network. But the more such wretched-looking pieces of network the fisher can fasten to his iron cross, the better are his chances. When the sea is perfectly quiet, he lets them sink down to a depth of sixty or even a hundred fathoms, where they slowly spread and unfold themselves over a vast extent. Now the vessel proceeds slowly on in the manner of our trolling, and as soon as the skilled hand of the fisher observes that the rope pulls, and consequently something is fastened to the net, he pulls it slowly up, and the treasure, if any there is, is heaved on board with great care, and now comes the task of picking outthe precious treasure from the meshes of the network, and to loosen them from the fragments of stone on which they are growing.

HOW TO EXAMINE THE CORAL.

The only way to examine the living animal is to seize the little fragment of rock, or the shell to which the mysterious creature is fastened, at the very moment that it appears near the surface, and to dip it, if possible, without exposing it to the air, immediately into a vessel with salt-water, which you hold ready for the purpose. At first, there is nothing to be seen but a vague, indistinct mass of grayish substance. You suspend the animal and its tiny abode by a string in the middle of the glass globe, and carry it to a dark place; for the coral will not display its beautiful form and colors in the gleaming light of the day. It takes hours, often, before the obstinate little creature condescends to give a sign of life.

At last the club-shaped extremity of the dingy red substance begins to wrinkle up into little rings here and there. Looking now with a magnifying-glass you perceive with joy, that the eight star-shaped indentations assume a white tinge, and the red grows every moment to a more lively hue. The lines widen, and soon the whole resembles a beautiful flower of eight leaves.

We have seen that those wondrous little animals in length of time have built mountains to a height of fifteen thousand feet. The coral islands and reefs are but just above the surface of the water, except in cases where they have been lifted by earthquakes or other internal action, after the little architect of the sea had done his work. Many of these coral islands are of circular form, with an opening which will admit the passage of boats, and sometimes of ships. The waves break on the outer edge with that long, steady swell peculiar to the Pacific, but on the inside the water is as calm and peaceful as that of a mountain lagoon. Sometimes the coral reefs have been formed around the volcanic islands so as to encircle them completely, except at a single opening. In such cases, they make excellent harbors between the reef and the island: the harbor of Tahiti is a splendid specimen of this kind of work. The reef surrounds the island in such a way as to make a lagoon of stillwater, like the moat around a castle. The entrance is deep, and sufficiently wide to admit ships of every size.

On many of the volcanic islands there are caverns, some of them of considerable size, and often of great depth. Runaway sailors frequently hide in these caverns, and they are also resorted to by the natives in times of warfare. There is a cavern in the Island of Hoonga, one of the Tonga Islands, which has a romantic history from the use that was made of it by the man who discovered it.

AQUATIC SKILL OF THE FEEJEEANS.

One day a young chief of Hoonga was out on a fishing excursion, and caught sight of a large turtle. The turtle dived, and so did the chief, leaving his canoe floating on the surface of the water. The natives of nearly all the Pacific islands can swim like seals; they are in the water and learn to swim about as soon as they learn to walk. It is commonly said that a Feejee baby will swim instinctively, like a puppy or a kitten; but this is not strictly true. The natives think nothing of swimming a mile or two at a time, and they frequently get up swimming matches, in which they show great speed and endurance. The accomplishment is not confined to the sterner sex; girls and women swim as well as boys and men, and frequently the girls carry away the prizes in the swimming matches. It is proper to say that they are not as elaborately dressed as the young ladies of New York and Paris; on some of the islands nobody wears any clothing whatever, except a little oil rubbed over the skin, to keep out the water. Since the missionaries settled in the South Pacific, more attention is paid to dress than formerly; but the quantity worn is surprisingly small, and would not admit the wearers to a fashionable party in America.

The young chief dived for the turtle, and the two had a lively race. The turtle went into a hole in the rocky shore, and the chief went after him. The turtle disappeared, and the chief rose to the surface of the water to regain his boat. But instead of finding himself in the open air, he was in a cavern, a hundred feet wide and twice as long, with a dome as high as the roof of an ordinary church. It was lighted fromthe water and from a few crevices in the rock, where nobody could reach them. On one side there was a floor of solid rock, smooth as the best sidewalk of a city, and evidently the resort of the turtles of that neighborhood. He explored the cavern, and concluded that he had hit upon a good thing, and would keep it to himself. Taking a new twist in his neck-tie, adjusting his collar, and seeing that his diamond pin was well fastened, he dived into the water, swam outside, and rose near his canoe. With his thumb on the side of his nose, he paddled home, lighted his gas, and sat down in his easy-chair.

He was not a married man, but he had hopes in the direction of matrimony. He loved the daughter of an old chief whose tribe was then at war with his own, and as long as the war lasted there was no hope for their union. His tribe was preparing for an assault upon the other, and the economical custom prevailed there of eating all who were killed or made prisoners. His tribe was more powerful than the other, and if the battle should be on the side of the stronger party, they would have the pleasure of devouring the vanquished ones. He had no particular objection to eating, or seeing his friends eat, the body of his father-in-law, and especially that of his mother-in-law,—many a married man in America can understand his feelings, and sympathize with them,—but he did object to seeing his bride roasted or fricasseed; so he studied out a plan to save her from the gridiron or stewpan.

WHAT A PAIR OF LOVERS DID.

He managed to communicate with her the next day, and told her to meet him at a certain place on the shore, at an appointed time, where he would be ready with his canoe. He was there on time, and she came, with her waiting-maid, who carried their entire wardrobe in an old bottle. A quart of cocoa-nut oil was sufficient to dress her for several days, and it did not take long to pack up. They entered the canoe, and the chief paddled them to the cave, which they reached just as the sun was rising.

“Dress yourself, my dear,” said he, as he ceased paddling, “and have your maid do likewise.”

She poured out a handful of the oil, and rubbed it over herporphyry-colored shoulders, so that she could slip easily through the water. Her maid followed her example, and then fastened the bottle to a string around her neck.

“Now, if you’re ready,” said the lover, “follow me.”

“Ready,” was the response.

He went overboard, and mistress and maid went after him.

Down they dived like three dolphins, the princess keeping close at his heels, and the maid following the princess.

The lady had some misgivings when they entered the hole in the rocks, but she concluded that her lover knew what he was about, and therefore she asked no questions. In fact, she could not talk at that time, as any one familiar with efforts at subaqueous conversation can testify.

THE HAPPY COUPLE IN A TURTLE CAVE.

They rose in the cavern, and clambered out upon the solid floor, disturbing half a dozen turtles, and capturing one of them just as he was sliding off into the water.

The princess was delighted, and so was the maid, who thought the place one of the jolliest she had ever seen. They talked about the best plan to arrange the house, and laughed to think what a commotion her absence from home would create. After an hour or so he left her, promising to bring some furniture, and fit up the establishment, so that they might start at housekeeping in good style.

There was a precious row in Oklingee’s palace when he found that his daughter had disappeared. He searched through his village, but could find no trace of her; and, after several hours of fruitless endeavor, he came home, and for the first time discovered that she had taken the bottle of cocoa-nut oil, and then he knew that she wouldn’t return in a hurry, and that her absence was premeditated. He did not know that anybody was in love with her, but very naturally suspected that she had eloped with some young man. His rage was great, and he ordered all the youths of the tribe to be sent before him.

All came, and were closely questioned. None of them knew anything about the princess and her flight, and all were able to prove where they were the night before. His angerwas partially appeased when some one brought in a prisoner freshly caught, who was immediately killed and served up for dinner.

Oklingee’s wrath turned to grief, and he determined to bring on a great battle at once, by way of distracting his sad thoughts. Moreover he suspected that his daughter had been stolen by some of his foes, though his spies brought him word that she was nowhere to be seen in the camp of the enemy.

A HOME UNDER WATER.

Meantime the lovers were happy in their new home, though the visits of the young chief were never of long duration. He carried her a liberal supply of mats for bedding, and kept the place well stocked with cocoa-nuts and other things good to eat. Anything that would be injured by the water was carefully wrapped in a shark’s skin before it was taken to the cave, and as the skin was quite water-proof, the articles did not suffer in transit. It was no easy work for the youth to dive and swim into the cavern with a bundle fastened to his neck; but love gave him strength, and he was ready to undergo any hardship for the sake of his heart’s idol. She reciprocated his kindness, and arranged all the mats and other furniture so that the house was quite comfortable, and even luxurious.

The turtles did not approve of the invasion of their home, and made up their minds not to live in the society of the moonstruck couple and their servant. As the latter showed no disposition to leave, the former abandoned the place, though now and then one made his way there and climbed upon the rocky floor. When the splashing of the water denoted the approach of a turtle, the princess and her maid would quietly slip aside, and leave him to pick out the spot he wanted and go to sleep. They would then stealthily approach him, and turn him on his back, where he would be helpless. Cutting off his head was the next step, and by the time the chief made his appearance the turtle would be ready to take home. He was thus able to account to his friends for his absence, as he took a turtle home nearly every day, and was greatly praised for his skill in the chase.

One day a fellow who had been unfortunate in turtle hunting, and taken nothing for a fortnight, determined to follow the chief, and find out where he had so much good luck. He paddled his canoe silently along, keeping some distance in the rear, so that he was not noticed by the lover. The latter reached the cave, and was so intent on seeing his lady love that he did not think to look around. Taking a bag of cocoa-nuts, he dived and rose as usual. The other waited a long time for his reappearance, and at last was rewarded by seeing him come up dragging a turtle, which he lifted into the canoe. Just as he was picking up his paddle, he discovered the spy, and knew that his secret, or at least a part of it, had been found out.

FATE OF A SPY.

The other laughed, but his laugh was brief, as the lover went for him, and there was every promise of a fight. The canoes met with a crash, and the men grappled and fell into the water. Their struggle was long, as neither had any weapons or clothing, and their oily skins did not offer good holding-ground for their hands. At last the chief had the spy by the throat, and at the same time struck him a violent blow on the nose, so that the blood spurted out.

The waters of the South Pacific swarm with sharks. Some of these grow to a considerable size, and are strong enough to seize a man and kill him. They rarely attack the natives; there seems to be a friendliness among the sharks and the natives, as the latter can swim among them with almost complete safety, while a white man would be caught in a moment. It sometimes happens that a group of natives will be bathing and frolicking in the water with sharks all around, as inattentive as though nothing were near them. But let a white man join the party, and he will instantly attract the sharks. A white cloth thrown into the water will bring them around; anything white seems to draw them and receive their attention. It not unfrequently happens that sailors who have incautiously put their naked hands or feet into the water over the sides of a boat have had them bitten off by sharks.

FOOD FOR SHARKS.

Blood also attracts them, and where there is blood, they make no distinction between natives and foreigners. In the present instance, the lover had drawn blood from his antagonist, and it instantly occurred to him that both their lives were in danger if any sharks were around. He released his hold, dived under his canoe, and swam away a hundred feet or more, so as to be out of the vicinity of the blood he had drawn.

As he rose to the surface and looked around, he saw that the spy was just recovering from the force of the blow. His head was above the water, and his hands were moving as if he were slowly swimming towards the rocks. Suddenly he gave a shriek, and disappeared as if drawn under, and the lover then knew that his expectations were not incorrect. But with a taste of blood the sharks would be likely to attack him, and he therefore swam farther away, and climbed upon a small reef just even with the surface.

Fortunately a light wind came up and blew his canoe towards him. When it was near the reef he swam out and reached it, and then paddled home with his turtle. For two days he did not go out again; partly through fear that the sharks might be around the spot where his antagonist was killed, and partly in order to allay any suspicions that his previous movements might have aroused.

When he next visited the cavern, he found his princess greatly distressed, and almost dead with grief. Soon after his last visit her maid took it into her head to go outside. She dived into the water, and rose close to the foot of the cliff. The lover had been gone an hour or more, but an empty canoe was floating not far away, and near it a dozen sharks were quarrelling over something which she naturally supposed was the body of the owner of the bark. Of course she thought that the canoe must belong to the young chief; and when she returned and told her story, it is no wonder that the princess went into hysterics. On the next day he came not, and they then knew that he was lost. Their grief had been great, and so were their surprise and relief at his return.

BATTLE OF THE WARRIORS.

He went and came safely. Next day the warriors went out to battle, and the stronger tribe was victorious. The slain were eaten, and the prisoners were reserved to be killed whenever wanted. Among the latter was Oklingee. The young chief had shown great courage in battle, killing two of the fattest and tenderest warriors with his own hand, and his people were consequently inclined to do the handsome thing by him. Oklingee was old and lean, and the young chief easily persuaded his people to let the patriarch live. The old fellow was gratified at being saved from the hash-mill for the present, and asked the youth what he could do for him.

“Give me the hand of your daughter” said the young man, respectfully.

“Certainly, my dear boy,” said Oklingee; “not only her hand, but her entire self, provided you can find her. She has eloped, and I don’t know where she is.”

“I will show you,” said the youth, as he led his prospective father-in-law to his canoe, and seated him on a mat in the bottom. Then he summoned his friends, and together they paddled their light canoes in a gay procession over the water. Near the mouth of the cavern they halted, and the chief jumped overboard.

A CANNIBAL WEDDING.

While all were wondering at his strange behavior, he reappeared with his tawny princess at his side. Everybody was surprised, and the old man gave the happy couple his blessing. The wedding was appointed for the following Sunday; cards were issued to all the relatives, the prisoners that had been held over were killed and roasted, and everybody was happy.

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