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He had enough of the naturalist in him to arouse in his mind keen interest in the habits and action of the animal life around him, and these denizens of the coral-groves were as new to him as their appearance was unexpected. "You'll find 'em very kind and hospitable, lad," said the captain to his son. "What, the fish?" "No, the inhabitants. Port port steady!"
Being somewhat tired he had lain down to rest and fallen sound asleep. On the way home this urchin's sole delight was to lean over the bow and watch the fish and coral-groves over which they skimmed. In this he was imitated by Nigel who, ungallantly permitting his companion to row, also leaned over the side and gazed down into the clear crystal depths with unwearying delight.
The lover of fishy beauty is abundantly gratified by the multitudes of fish of brilliant colors, together with large medusae, which dart or glide through the sunlit waters among the coral-groves, where every coral spray is gemmed with zoophytes, whose rainbow-tinted arms sway with the undulations of the water, and where sea-snakes writhe themselves away into the recesses of coral caves.
He had enough of the naturalist in him to arouse in his mind keen interest in the habits and action of the animal life around him, and these denizens of the coral-groves were as new to him as their appearance was unexpected. "You'll find 'em very kind and hospitable, lad," said the captain to his son. "What, the fish?" "No, the inhabitants. Port port steady!"
Instantly, a loud report, and a column of water spurted up into the air, some ten or twelve feet, in a boisterous fountain. As it subsided again, a hundred or so of the bright-colored fish that browse among the submerged, coral-groves of these still lagoons, rose dead or dying to the seething, boiling surface. The captain smiled. Instantly the natives set up a terrified shout.
This difference of level, although no doubt very small, has, I believe, caused the death of those coral-groves, which under the former and more open condition of the outer reef has attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth. A few miles north of Keeling there is another small atoll, the lagoon of which is nearly filled up with coral-mud.
This difference of level, although no doubt very small, has, I believe, caused the death of those coral-groves, which under the former and more open condition of the outer reef had attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth. A few miles north of Keeling there is another small atoll, the lagoon of which is nearly filled up with coral-mud.
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