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This is a great mass of madrepore, and in the living state every one of the ends of these branches was terminated by a beautiful little polype, like a sea anemone, and all the skeleton was covered by a soft body which united the polypes together.
Without any doubt, it is the most original building in the world; it recalls nothing that you have ever seen and it belongs to no style whatever: you might call it a gigantic madrepore, a colossal formation of crystals, or a grotto of stalactites inverted. But let us not search for comparisons to give an idea of something that has no prototype.
We now placed the chama shells, the crabs, and other shell-fish, together with Johnny's specimens, to which he had added a splendid madrepore vase, in the boat, and as soon as the swimmers were dressed, we pulled over to Palm-islet. Here we arranged a tent in the same manner as we had done on the memorable night when we first reached these shores.
Our boat glided along over countless shallows, where the water was as clear as crystal, so that the smallest pebble at the bottom was distinctly visible. I could observe groups and clusters of coloured coral and madrepore- stone, whose magnificence challenges all description.
This is a great mass of madrepore, and in the living state every one of the ends of these branches was terminated by a beautiful little polype, like a sea anemone, and all the skeleton was covered by a soft body which united the polypes together.
"The rate of growth of the common branching madrepore is not over one and a half inches a year. As the branches are open, this would not be equivalent to more than half an inch in height of solid coral for the whole surface covered by the madrepore; and, as they are also porous, to not over three-eighths of an inch of solid limestone.
This root is bitter and waxy, though it is cultivated. It was not in flower, so I can not say whether it is a solanaceous plant or not. One never expects to find a grave nor a stone of remembrance set up in Africa; the very rocks are illiterate, they contain so few fossils. Those here are of reddish variegated, hardened sandstone, with madrepore holes in it.
The elevated plains among these mountain masses show great patches of ferruginous conglomerate, which, when broken, look like yellow haematite with madrepore holes in it: this has made the soil of a red colour. The highest rock observed with mica schist was at an altitude of 3440 feet.
And some look of listening, of complacency, and of embarrassment he has verily got: note the eyes slightly askance, the lips compressed, and the right hand nervously grasping the left arm: nothing can be declared impossible to the people who could begin thus the world is open to them, and all that is in it; while, on the contrary, nothing is possible to the man who did the symmetrical angel the world is keyless to him; he has built a cell for himself in which he must abide, barred up for ever there is no more hope for him than for a sponge or a madrepore.
C| TUFA AND TRAP. In Londa, the bottom of the valley E| 2500 feet. is formed of ferruginous conglomerate on the surface; N| Lake Ngami. hardened sandstone, with madrepore holes, T| banks of gravel, and occasionally trap; R| south of 12 Degrees, large patches of soft A| TUFA. calcareous tufa, with pebbles of jasper, L| agates, &c., lie on various horizontal traps, | amygdaloids with analami and mesotype, which is P| burst through by basaltic rocks forming hills, L| and showing that the bottom of the valley A| RADIATED ZEOLITE. consists of old silurian schists; T| there are also various granitic rocks E| cropping through the trap.
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