The Cannibal Islands | Page 8

of all human beings.
CHAPTER FOUR.
EXPLAINS HOW CORAL ISLANDS ARE MADE.
Soon after this adventurous visit to the land of Tierra del Fuego, the
Endeavour doubled Cape Horn--and entered the waters of the great
Pacific Ocean; and now Cook began to traverse those unknown seas in
which his fame as a discoverer was destined to be made. He sailed over
this ocean for several weeks, however, before discovering any land. It
was on Tuesday morning, the 10th of April, that he fell in with the first
of the coral islands. Mr Banks's servant, Peter Briscoe, was the first to
see it, bearing south, at the distance of about ten or twelve miles, and
the ship was immediately run in that direction. It was found to be an

island of an oval form, with a lake, or lagoon, in the middle of it. In fact,
it was like an irregularly-formed ring of land, with the ocean outside
and a lake inside. Coral islands vary a good deal in form and size, but
the above description is true of many of them.
To this island the crew of the Endeavour now drew near with looks of
eager interest, as may well be believed, for an unknown land
necessarily excites feelings of lively curiosity in the breasts of those
who discover it.
It was found to be very narrow in some places, and very low, almost on
a level with the sea. Some parts were bare and rocky; others were
covered with vegetation, while in several places there were clumps of
trees-- chiefly cocoa-nut palms. When the ship came within a mile of
the breakers, the lead was hove, but no bottom was found with 130
fathoms of line! This was an extraordinary depth so near shore, but they
afterwards found that most of the coral islands have great depth of
water round them, close outside the breakers.
They now observed that the island was inhabited, and with the glass
counted four-and-twenty natives walking on the beach. These all
seemed to be quite naked. They were of a brown colour, and had long
black hair. They carried spears of great length in their hands, also a
smaller weapon, which appeared to be either a club or a paddle. The
huts of these people were under the shade of some palm-trees, and
Captain Cook says that to him and his men, who had seen nothing but
water and sky for many long months, except the dreary shores of Tierra
del Fuego, these groves appeared like paradise.
They called this Lagoon Island. As night came on soon after they
reached it, however, they were compelled to sail away without
attempting to land.
Not long afterwards another island was discovered. This one was in the
shape of a bow, with the calm lake, or lagoon, lying between the cord
and the bow. It was also inhabited, but Cook did not think it worth his
while to land. The natives here had canoes, and the voyagers waited to
give them an opportunity of putting off to the ship, but they seemed

afraid to do so.
Now, good reader, you must know that these coral islands of the Pacific
are not composed of ordinary rocks, like most other islands of the
world, but are literally manufactured or built by millions of extremely
small insects which merit particular notice. Let us examine this process
of island-making which is carried on very extensively by the artisans of
the great South-Sea Factory!
The coral insect is a small creature of the sea which has been gifted
with the power of "secreting" or depositing a lime-like substance, with
which it builds to itself a little cell or habitation. It fastens this house to
a rock at the bottom of the sea. Like many other creatures the coral
insect is sociable; it is fond of company, and is never found working
except in connection with millions of its friends. Of all the creatures of
earth it shows perhaps the best example of what mighty works can be
accomplished by union. One man can do comparatively little, but
hundreds of men, united in their work, can achieve wonders, as every
one knows. They can erect palaces and cathedrals towering to the skies;
they can cover hundred of miles of ground with cities, and connect
continents with telegraphs, but, with all their union, all their wisdom,
and all their power, men cannot build islands--yet this is done by the
coral insect; a thing without hand or brain, a creature with little more
than a body and a stomach. It is not much bigger than a pin-head, yet
hundreds of the lovely, fertile islands of the Pacific Ocean are formed
by this busy animalcule. Many of those islands would never have been
there but for the coral