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 insect!
When corallines (as they are called) set about building an island, they
lay the foundation on the top of a submarine mountain. The ordinary
islands of the sea are neither more nor less than the tops of those
mountains which rise from the bottom of the sea and project above the
surface. Some of these sea-mountains rise high above the surface and
form large islands; some only peep, so to speak, out of the waves, thus
forming small islands; others again do not rise to the surface at all--
their highest peaks being several feet below the level of the ocean. It
is on these water-covered mountain-tops that the coral insects lay the
foundations of their islands. As few mountain-peaks are level, however,
whether above or below water, the insect finds it more convenient to
form a ring round the sides of the mountain-top than to build on the
exact top itself. Then they set to work with the busy industry of bees.
Their talents are few; apparently they have received only one, but they
turn that one to good account. They fulfil the work for which they were
created. No creature can do more!
They begin to build, and the work advances rapidly, for they are active
little masons. The ring round the mountain-top soon begins to shoot
upwards and extend outwards. As the labourers continue their work their
families increase. It is a thriving and a united community. There are
neither wars nor disputes--no quarrelling, no mis-spent time, no
misapplied talents. There is unity of action and design, hence the work
advances quickly, steadily, and well. In process of time the coral ring
becomes a solid wall, which gradually rises above the highest peak of
the submarine mountain, and at length approaches the surface of the sea.
When it reaches this point the work is done. The coral insect can only
work under water. When its delicate head rises above the waves it
ceases to build, and, having done its duty, it dies. Those which reach
the surface first, die first. The others that are still below water
work on, widening and strengthening the wall until they too reach the
fatal surface, peep for one moment as it were on the upper world and
then perish. Thus the active builders go on adding to the width of the
structure, and dying by successive relays; working with their little
might during their brief existence, and knowing nothing of the great end
which is to result from their modest busy lives.
With the death of the coral insects the foundation-stone of the island
is laid, in the form of a ring just peeping out of the ocean.
Thenceforth other creatures continue the work. The waves lash and beat
upon the uppermost coral cells and break them up into fine white sand.
Currents of ocean throw upon this beach pieces of sea-weed and drifting
marine substances of various kinds. The winds convey the lighter seeds
of land plants to it, and sea-birds that alight upon it to rest do the
same thing. Thus, little by little, things accumulate on the top of the
coral ring until the summit rises above the reach and fury of the waves.
No sooner is this accomplished than the genial sun of those regions
calls the seeds into life. A few blades of green shoot up. These are
the little tokens of life that give promise of the luxuriance yet to
come. Soon the island ring is clothed with rich and beautiful
vegetation, cocoa-nut palms begin to sprout and sea-fowl to find shelter
where, in former days, the waves of the salt sea alone were to be found.
In process of time the roving South-Sea islanders discover this little
gem of ocean, and take up their abode on it; and when such a man as Cook
sails past it, he sees, perchance, the naked savage on the beach gazing
in wonder at his "big canoe," and the little children swimming like
ducks in the calm waters of the lagoon or gambolling like porpoises
among the huge breakers outside that roll like driven snow upon the
strand.
During their formation, these islands are fraught with danger to ships,
for sometimes, in parts of the ocean where charts show deep water, the
sailor finds an unexpected coral reef, and, before he is aware, the good
ship runs on this living wall and becomes a wreck. Many a noble vessel
goes to sea well appointed and with a good brave crew, but never more
returns;--who knows how many such have, when all on board thought
themselves secure, been dashed to pieces suddenly, and lost upon the
coral reefs of the Pacific?
These circular islets of coral never rise more than a few feet above the
surface of the sea, but there are many other islands in the South Seas--
some of which have been thrown up by the action of volcanoes, and are
wild, rugged, mountainous, and of every conceivable shape and size.
The busy corallines before mentioned are so numerous in the South Seas
that they build their coral walls everywhere. As they have an objection
apparently to commence building in shallow water, they are obliged to
keep off the shore a distance of a mile or more, so that when they reach
the surface they enclose a belt of water of that width, which is guarded
by the reef from the violence of the waves, and forms a splendid natural
harbour. Almost every South-Sea island has its coral reef round it, and
its harbour of still water between the reef and the shore.
It would seem as if the beneficent Creator had purposely formed those
harbours for man's convenience, because narrow openings are found in all
the reefs, without which, of course, the sheltered waters within could
not have been entered. These openings are usually found to occur
opposite valleys where the streams from the mountains enter the sea. It
is therefore supposed that fresh water kills the coral insects at these
places, thus preventing the reef from forming an unbroken circle. Low
islets are usually formed on each side of the openings on which a few
cocoa-nut trees grow; so that the mariner is thus furnished with a
natural beacon by which to guide his vessel clear of the reef safely
into the harbour.
One of the most interesting of the larger islands of the Pacific is
Otaheite (now spelt and pronounced Tahiti), at which Captain Cook
arrived on the 4th of April 1769. It had been discovered, however,
nearly two years before the date of his visit--as the next chapter will
show.