CHAPTER IV

GARDEN OF CORAL

Brammo Bay has its garden of coral--a border of pretty, quaint and varied

growth springing up along the verge of deep water. It is not as it used

to be--no less lovely than a flower-garden of the land. Terrestrial storms

work as much if not greater havoc in the shallow places of the sea as on

the land. Pearl-shell divers assert that ordinary "rough weather" is

imperceptible at a depth of two fathoms; while ten fathoms are generally

accepted as the extreme limit of wave action, however violent the surface

commotion. Yet in the shallow sea, within the Barrier Reef in times of

storm and stress, not only are groves of marine plants torn and wrenched

up, but huge lumps of coral rock are shattered or thrown bodily out of

place and piled up on "uproarious beaches."

A storm in March, 1903, which did scarcely any damage to vegetation

ashore, destroyed most of the fantastic forms which made the coral garden

enchanting. In its commotion, too, the sea lost its purity. The sediment

and ooze of decades were churned up, and, as the agitation ceased, were

precipitated--a brown furry, slimy mud, all over the garden--smothering

the industrious polyps to whom all its prettiness was due. Order is being

restored, fresh and vigorous shoots sprouting up from the fulvid basis;

but it may be many years before the damage is wholly repaired and the

original beauty of the garden restored, for the "growth" of coral--the

skeletons of the polyps--is methodical and very slow. We speak of coral as

if it were a plant, yet the reproduction is by means of eggs, and the

polyp is as much an animal as a horse or an elephant.

In times past the marine garden comprised several acres in which were

plants of almost every conceivable shape and form, and more or less

bright and delicate in colour. Fancy may feign shrubs, standard and

clipped; elaborate bouquets, bunches of grapes, compact cauliflowers,

frail red fans. Rounded, skull-like protuberances with the convolutions

of the brain exposed, stag-horns, whip-thongs yards long, masses of pink

and white resembling fanciful confectionery, intricate lace-work in the

deepest indigo blue, have their appointed places. Some of the spreading

plant-like growths are snow-white, tipped with mauve, lemon-coloured

tipped with white, white tipped with lemon and pale blue.

On the rocks rest stalkless mushrooms, gills uppermost, which blossom as

pom-pom chrysanthemums; rough nodules, boat- and canoe-shaped dishes of

coral. Adhering to the rocks are thin, flaky, brittle growths resembling

vine-leaves, brown and golden-yellow; goblets and cups, tiered epergnes,

distorted saucers, eccentric vases, crazily-shaped dishes. Clams and

cowries and other molluscs people the cracks and crevices of coral

blocks, and congregate beneath detached masses and loose stones. In these

fervid and fecund waters life is real, life is earnest. Here, are

elaborately armoured crayfish (PALINURUS ORNATUS), upon which the most

gaudy colours are lavished; grotesque crabs, fish brilliant in hue as

humming-birds. Life, darting and dashing, active and alert, crawling and

slithering, slow and stationary, swarms in these marine groves.

A coral reef is gorged with a population of varied elements viciously

disposed towards each other. It is one of Nature's most cruel

battlefields, for it is the brood of the sea that "plots mutual

slaughter, hungering to live." Molluscs are murderers and the most

shameless of cannibals. No creature at all conspicuous is safe, unless it

is agile and alert, or of horrific aspect, or endowed with giant's

strength, or is encased in armour. A perfectly inoffensive crab,

incapable of inflicting injury to anything save creatures of almost

microscopic dimensions, assumes the style and demeanour of a ferocious

monster, ready at a moment's notice to cry havoc, and let loose the dogs

of war. Another hides itself as a rugged nodule of moss-covered stone;

its limbs so artfully stowed away that detection would be impossible did

it not occasionally betray itself by a stealthy movement. The pretty

cowrie, lemon-coloured and grey and brown, throws over its shining

shoulders a shawl of the hue of the rock on which it crawls about, grey

or brown or tawny, with white specks and dots which make for

invisibility--a thin filmy shawl of exquisite sensitiveness. Touch it

ever so lightly, and the helpless creature, discerning that its disguise

has been penetrated, withdraws it, folding it into its shell, and closes

its door against expected attack. It may feebly fall off the rock, and

simulating a dead and empty shell, lie motionless until danger is past.

Then again it will drape itself in its garment of invisibility and slide

cautiously along in search of its prey. Under the loose rocks and

detached lumps of coral for one live there will be scores of dead shells.

The whole field is strewn with the relics of perpetual conflict,

resolving and being resolved into original elements. We talk of the

strenuous life of men in cities. Go to a coral reef and see what the

struggle for existence really means. The very bulwarks of limestone are

honeycombed by tunnelling shells. A glossy black, torpedo-shaped creature

cuts a tomb for itself in the hard lime. Though it may burrow inches deep

with no readily visible inlet, cutting and grinding its cavity as it

develops in size and strength, yet it is not safe. Fate follows in

insignificant guise, drills a tiny hole through its shell, and the

toilsomely excavated refuge becomes a sepulchre. Even in the fastness of

the coral "that grim sergeant death is strict in his arrest." All is

strife--war to the death. If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

among men, what quality shall avert destruction where insatiable

cannibalism is the rule. There is but one creature that seems to make use

of the debris of the battlefield--the hermit crab (CAENOBITA), which but

half armoured must to avert extermination fit itself into an empty shell,

discarding as it grows each narrow habitation for a size larger.

Disconsolate is the condition of the hermit crab who has outgrown his

quarters, or has been enticed from them or "drawn" by a cousin stronger

than he, or who has had the fortune to be ejected without dismemberment.

The full face of the red blue-spotted variety (PAGURUS PUNCTULATUS) is an

effective menace to any ordinary foe, and that honourable part is

presented at the front door when the tenant is at home. For safety's sake

the flabby gelatinous, inert rear end must be tucked and hooked into the

convolutions of the shell, deprived of which he is at the mercy of foes

very much his inferior in fighting weight and truculent appearance. The

disinterested spectator may smile at the vain, yet frantically serious

efforts of the hermit to coax his flabby rear into a shell obviously a

flattering misfit. But it is not a smiling matter to him. Not until he

has exhausted a programme of ingenious attitudes and comic contortions is

the attempt to stow away a No. 8 tail into a No. 5 shell abandoned. When

a shell of respectable dimensions is presented, and the grateful hermit

backs in, settles comfortably, arrays all his weapons against intruders,

and peers out with an expression of ferocious content, smiles may come,

and will be out of place only when the aches of still increasing bulk

force him to hustle again for still more commodious lodgings.

A frilled clam (TRIDACNA COMPRESSA) in its infancy seals or anchors

itself in a tiny crack or crevice, and apparently by a continuous but

imperceptible movement analogous to elbow-rooming, deepens and enlarges

its cavity as it develops. Should it survive in defiance of all its foes,

just taking from the sea the sustenance for which it craves with gaping

valves, it may increase in bulk, but its apartment in the limestone never

seems too large--just a neat fit In its abiding-place it presents an

irregular strip of silk, green as polished malachite, or dark green and

grey, or blue and slaty green, mottled and marbled, with crimped edges

and graceful folds--an attractive ornament in the drab rock. Touch any

part--there is a slow suspensory withdrawal, and then a snap and spurt of

water as the last remnant of the living mantle disappears between the

interlocking valves of porcelain white.

Apart from the bulk and the fantastic shapes of coral structures, there

is the beauty of the living polyps. That which when dry may have the

superficial appearance of stone plentifully pitted--a heavy dull

mass--blossoms with wondrous gaiety as the revivifying water covers it.

The time to admire these frail marine flowers is on an absolutely calm

day. All the sediment of the sea has been precipitated. The water is as

transparent as rock crystal, but like that mineral slightly distorts the

object unless the view is absolutely vertical. It is a lens perfect in

its limpidity. Here is a buff-coloured block roughly in the shape of a

mushroom with a flat top, irregular edges, and a bulbous stalk. Rich

brown alga hangs from its edges in frills and flounces. Little cones stud

its surface, each of which is the home of a living, star-like flower, a

flower which has the power of displaying and withdrawing itself, and of

waving its fringed rays. Each flower is self-coloured, and may represent

a group of animals. There are blues of various depths and shades from

cobalt to lavender, reds, orange and pinks, greens, browns and greys,

each springing from a separate receptacle. All are alike in shape--viewed

vertically, many-rayed stars; horizontally, fir-trees faultlessly

symmetrical in form and proportion. These flowers all blossom, or trees,

or stars, are shy and timorous. A splash and they shrink away. The hope

of such wilderness--as barren-looking as desert sandstone--ever

blossoming again seems forbidden. Quietude for a few moments, and one

after another the flowers emerge, at first furtively but gathering

courage in full vanity, until the buff rock becomes as radiant as a

garden bed.

Upon coral blocks, which represent the skeletons of polyps in orderly and

systematic profusion, other creatures more highly organised appear,

having in one feature a family likeness to the polyps, upon whose

hospitality they impose, that is, if the setting up of an establishment

on the remains of innumerable ancestors of its host may be said to be

merely an imposition. One is a species of mollusc which resembles, in

some respects, that to which has been given the name of SURPULA. In its

babyhood it attaches itself to the coral, and forthwith begins to build a

home, which is nothing more than a calcareous tube, superficially

resembling a corpulent worm, instantaneously petrified while in the act

of a more or less elaborate wriggle or fantastic contortion. In this

complicated tunnel the creature resides, presenting a lovely circular

disc of glowing pink as its front door. A few inches beneath the water

this operculum or lid is not unlike a pearl, but as you gaze upon it, it

slips on one side, and five animated red rays appear, waving like

automatic flag signals. Though well housed, it is almost as timorous as

the coral polyps. Upon the least alarm the rays disappear in a twinkle,

and the pink pearl trap-door glows again. Break off the end of the shelly

tunnel in an attempt to secure the pearl, and it is as elusive as a

sunbeam. It recedes as piece by piece is broken away, until the edge of

the cylinder is flush with the surface of the coral in which the shell is

embedded. There the pearly operculum glows in safety.

The living rays or flower-like face are the features in which this

encased worm resembles the coral polyps on the one hand and the houseless

beche-de-mer on the other. Some of the numerous inhabitants of the reef,

struggling to keep in the fashion, make the very best of five simple

points. Others flaunt with no apparent vanity or pride quite a plume, of

complex rays more or less beautifully coloured. A worm which occasionally

swims like a water snake, and again reposes inertly on the sand, as does

the beche-de-mer, sets off its brown naked body with a red nimbus--a

flexible living nimbus, ruby red.

The visible part of the organism of the coral polyps is composed of

rays, from the sides of which spring secondary rays, the combination

producing complex stars of great beauty and which call to mind the frost

flowers, and the flowers into which some inorganic substances bloom as

they crystallise.

The congested state of a coral reef, and the inevitable result

thereof--perpetual war of species and shocking cannibalism--have been

referred to. Another result of the overcrowding has yet to be mentioned.

Possibly there may be those who are disinclined to credit the statement

that some of the denizens take in lodgers. But the fact remains. Having

ample room and to spare within their own walls, they offer hospitality to

homeless and unprotected strangers, whom graceless Nature has not

equipped to take part in the rough-and-tumble struggle for existence

outside. A tender-hearted mollusc (PINNA) accepts the company of a

beautiful form of mantis-shrimp--tender, delicate and affectionate--which

dies quickly when removed from its asylum, as well as a singular creature

which has no charm of character, and must be the dullest sort of lodger

possible to imagine. It is a miniature eel, which looks as if it had been

drawn out of rock crystal or perfectly clear glass. There is no apparent

difference between the head and the tail, save that one end tapers more

gradually than the other. Very limited power of motion has been bestowed

upon it. It cannot wriggle. It merely squirms in the extremity of

laziness or lassitude. These two keep the PINNA company--the lively

shrimp, pinkish brown and green with pin-point black eyes, and the little

eel as bright and as transparent yet as dull and insipid as glass. One of

the oysters attracts the patronage of a rotund crab, which in some

respects resembles a tick, and a great anemone a brilliant fish--scarlet

and silver defined with purple hair lines--which on alarm retires within

the ample folds of its host.

The flowers of a coral reef live. A bouquet of lavender-coloured, tender,

orderly spikes has a gentle rhythmical, swaying movement. A touch, and by

magic the colour is gone--naught remains but a dingy brown lump on the

rock, whence water oozes. Another form of plant-like life takes the colour

of rich green--the green of parsley, and faints at the touch, as does the

sensitive plant of the land. Another strange creature, roughly

saucer-shaped, but deep grey mottled with white and brown, continuously

waves its serrated edges and pulsates at the centre. It starts and stops,

contracts and withdraws steadily into the sand upon interference.

One of the shrimps (GONODACTYLUS CHIRAGRA) in my experience found only

far out on the reef at dead low-water winter spring-tides, might be

taken as a display collection in miniature of those gems of purest ray

serene which the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. The emerald-green

tail is fringed with transparent golden lace; the malachite body has the

sheen of gold; the chief legs are of emerald with ruby joints, and

silvery claws; the minor as of amber, while over all is a general sheen

of ornamentation of points and blotches of sapphire blue. Long white

antennae, delicate and opaque, spring from the head. The decorative hues

are not laid on flat, but are coarsely powdered and sprinkled as in the

case of one of the rarest of Brazilian butterflies, and they live.

Picture a moss-rose with the "moss" all the colours of the rainbow, on

which the light plays and sparkles, and you have an idea of the effect

of the jewellery of this lustrous crustacean. Yet it is not for human

admiration. Its glints speedily dim in the air. To be gobbled up by some

hungry fish is the ordinary fate of the species. Possibly splendour is

bestowed upon the shrimp as a means by which certain fish distinguish a

particularly choice dainty, and the fish show the very acme of

admiration by "wolfing" it. Thus are the examples of high art in

Nature remorselessly lavished.

Quite distinct is the unconscious genius which now demands brief

reference to its perfections. Though a brilliant example of the

employment of unattractive deceptive features, it has no individual

comeliness--not an atom of grace, no style of its own. Every feature,

attitude and movement is subordinate to the part it plays. Death being

the penalty, it may not blunder. Behold, among acres of similar growth,

a trivial collection of rough, short weeds of the sea--grey, green and

mud-coloured. This microcosm glides and stops. The movement is barely

perceptible; the intervals of rest long and frequent. An untimely slide

as the chance gaze of the observer is directed to the spot, betrays

that here is the centre of independent life and motive. The dwarf,

unkempt weeds cloak a meek, weak, shrinking crab, whose frail claws

and tufted legs are breeched with muddy moss, and whose oddly-shaped

body is obscured by parasitic vegetation and realistic counterfeits

thereof. Inspection, however critical, makes no satisfactory definition

between the real and the artificial algae, so perfectly do the

details of the moving marine garden blend with the fringes and

fur of the animal's rugged and misshapen figure and deformed limbs.

As an artistic finish to a marvellous piece of mummery, in one of

the crude green claws is carried a fragment of coral, green with the

mould of the sea. It and the claw are indistinguishable until, in the

faintest spasm of fright, the crab abandons the coral, and shrinking

within itself becomes inanimate--as steadfast a patch of weeds as any

other of the reef. Recovering slowly from its fright, and conscious of

the necessity for each detail of its equipment and insignia, the lowly

crustacean timidly re-grips the coral, and holding it aloft, glides

discreetly on its way, invisible when stationary, most difficult to

detect when it moves.

To see the coral garden to advantage you must pass over it--not through

it. Drifting idly in a boat in a calm clear day, when the tips of the

tallest shrubs are submerged but a foot or so, and all the delicate

filaments, which are invisible or lie flat and flaccid when the tide is

out, are waving, twisting and twining, then the spectacle is at its

best. Tiny fish, glowing like jewels, flash and dart among the

intricate, interlacing branches, or quiveringly poise about some slender

point--humming-birds of the sea, sipping their nectar. A pink

translucent fish no greater than a lead-pencil wriggles in and out of the

lemon-coloured coral. Another of the John Dory shape, but scarcely an

inch long, blue as a sapphire with gold fins and gold-tipped tail,

hovers over a miniature blue-black cave. A shoal darts out, some all

old-gold, some green with yellow damascene tracery and long yellow

filaments floating from the lower lip. A slender form, half coral pink,

half grey, that might swim in a walnut shell, displays its transparent

charms. Conspicuous, daring colours here are as common as on the lawn of a

race course. Occasionally on the edge of a reef there comes the fish of

frosted silver, with hair like purple streamers floating from the dorsal

fin a foot and more behind. Some call it the "lady" fish, because of its

beauty and grace, and others the diamond trevally (ALECTIS CILIARIS).

More frequently is seen "the sleepy fish," salmon-shaped, of resplendent

copper, with bright blue blotches and markings, which remains motionless

in the water, and so often awakens not until the spear of the hungry

black is fast in its shoulders.

Another handsome creature of olive green with blue wavy stripes and

spots (FISTULARIS SERRATUS) has the shape of a gar-fish, and to

counterbalance a long tubular snout, a slender filament resembling the

bare feather shaft of some bird of paradise extending from the tail.

With all its fantastic beauty a coral reef is cruel. Nearer the shore

the stony blocks are overspread by masses of that singular skeleton-less

coral, known as alcyonaria--partaking of the nature of rubber and of

leather--an ugly, repulsive, tyrannous growth, over-running and killing

other and more delicate corals, as undesirable pests crowd out useful

and becoming vegetation. It occurs in varying colours and forms--sickly

green and grey, bronze and yellow, brown and pink. Loathsome, resembling

offal in some aspects as the receding tide lays it bare, it becomes

pretty and interesting when covered with calm, limpid water, and its

dull life flourishes with star-like, living flowers.

Before our coral garden was as familiar as it is, it was said that on

one of the reefs of Dunk Island there reposed a colossal clam--one of

the giants of the variety known to science as TRIDACNA GIGAS. So

prodigious was the alleged specimen, that no one had been able to remove

it, and it was dimly suggested that the occupant of the island would

easily become possessed of a very marvel among molluscs. So far, its

resting-place has not been discovered, though all the reefs have been

explored many times, nor do any of the natives know of its existence.

Very few reefs, if all reports are to be credited, are without

monstrous clams, but they seem to acquire the habit of suddenly

disappearing--quite foreign to their bulk and stay-at-home character--when

the time of anticipated capture approaches. One up a little north was

stated to be over 10 feet long, and to weigh at least a ton, and 14 feet

was alleged to be the size of another. But all disappear like

will-o'-the-wisps when the search-party arrives on the scene, and none

but ordinary specimens, that have no reputation to maintain, are there

to flout the ardour of the collector.

Circumscribed as it is, the garden of coral in Brammo Bay, now slowly

recovering its lost loveliness, supplies an excellent field for the

observation of some of the most wonderful of the processes of Nature. In

many respects it is a miniature, as most fringing reefs seem to be, of

the Great Barrier.

It would be an exhibition of hopeless vanity to attempt to describe the

many varieties of coral and fish and crabs and strange grotesque

creatures low in the scale of life which are unceasingly at work within

"coo-ee." The complexity of the subject from a scientific aspect is

sufficient justification for reluctance to set down anything beyond

casual experiences and personal observation, and the record of

ever-recurring pleasure obtained from the delights of the marine garden.

Special attainments and varied lore must be at the command of the

student who would attempt to classify the marvels of a coral reef of

even limited scope. When it is remembered that the Great Barrier Reef of

Queensland--"one of the most valuable possessions of the state"--has a

length of 1,250 miles; that some of its outlying reefs extend as far

from the coast as 150 miles; that some approach as close as 10 or 12

miles; that the average distance of the outer edge from the coast-line

is 30 miles; that it embraces an area of 80,000 geographical square

miles, and that its corals, continuous and detached and isolated, teem

with life, it is impossible to repress feelings of astonishment, wonder,

and admiration.

Subdued before such a vast phenomenon, the commonplace man calms his

aspirations for knowledge by the reflection that industrious and skilled

observers have years of study before them ere they come to know all the

secrets of the Great Barrier.

QUEER FISH

"A strange fish! Were I in England now (as once I was), and had but this

fish painted, not a holiday fool but would give a piece of silver."

Of curious and pretty shells there are so many varieties in these warm

waters, that one must be well versed in conchology before daring to

attempt an enumeration even of the commonest. I frankly admit "a little

learning is a dangerous thing" in this interesting branch of natural

science, and therefore cannot pledge myself to give details, while eager

to set forth a few of the objects of interest, which present themselves

to the open-minded though uninformed observer of sea-beaten rocks, mud

flats, coral reefs, and the open sea.

Well may the dabbler despair when nine titles are necessary to catalogue

the oysters alone--oysters which vary from the size and

independence--and the toughness (be it said) of the clam, to delicate

morsels, so crowded and cemented in communities together, that they form

bridges between severed rocks and shelves and cornices broad and

massive; oysters flatter than plates, oysters tubular as service

gas-pipes; the gold-lipped mother of pearl, the black-lipped mother of

pearl, the cockscomb, the coral rock oyster, the small but sweet rock

oyster, two varieties of the common rock oyster, besides the trap-door,

the hammer, and another of somewhat similar shape whose official and

courtesy title are both alike unknown, but which furnished knives and

sharp-edged tools of various shapes to the original inhabitants of the

island. The gold-lipped mother of pearl is rarely found, favourable

conditions for it--deep water and strong currents--not being general. An

occasional stray shell is picked up, and so far none has betrayed the

presence of a valuable pearl. The black-lip occurs on the reefs, but not

in any great quantity, and the most plentiful variety of the edible oyster

is bulky in size and somewhat coarse in flavour.

Apart from the rarity and beauty of some of the denizens of the reefs,

there are others that are singular and interesting, and some whose

intimate acquaintance is quite undesirable, save from a scientific and

safe standpoint. A miniature marine porcupine decorates its slender

spines of white with lilac tips, sharp as needles, brittle as spun

glass, and charged with an irritant which sets all the nerves tingling.

On the reefs uncouth fish pass solitary, isolated lives, in hollows and

crevices of the coral, sealed up as are the malodorous hermits in rocky

cells at Lhassa, and dependent for doles upon the profuse and kindly

sea. Their bodies seem to mould themselves roughly to the shape of the

hollows to which each has grown accustomed as crude but almost inanimate

castings. To obtain perfect specimens the mould must be shattered. If

the body does not yet fill the hollow, the inhabitant clings desperately

to it, wedging itself with wonderful plasticity into odd corners and

against niches, resisting to the last efforts at eviction. Torn from its

home the fish is a feeble, helpless creature, incapable of taking care

of itself, quite unfit to be at large, though apparently belonging to

the self-reliant shark family.

More than one species of fish, it is said, inhabit these coral grottoes.

A compact creature with prominent rodent teeth ejects a spurt of water

when its retreat is approached at low tide, while about its front and

only door are strewn (after the manner of the "bones, blood and ashes"

of the two giants in the valley through which Christian of THE PILGRIM'S

PROGRESS passed) the shells of the crustaceans and molluscs it has

devoured.

Stones hide creatures of forbidding but varying shape and

colour--diminutive bodies ovate and round--brown, grey, glossy black with

brown edgings, pink with grey quarterings and grey fringe, whence

radiate five sprawling slender "legs," a foot or so long. Though doubtful

in appearance, more in consonance with the creepy imagery of a nightmare

than a reality of the better day, these are merely the shy and innocent

brittle stars. They are endowed with such exquisitive sensitiveness that

to evade capture they sacrifice, apparently without a pang, their

wriggling legs piece by piece, and each piece, large or small, squirms and

wriggles. The poet says that when the legs of one of the heroes of

"The Chevy Chase" were smitten off, "he fought upon their stumps!"

The voluntary dismemberment of the brittle star may be even more

pitiful--in fact almost complete, yet it still strives to pack away

its forlorn body in some crevice or hollow of the coral rock. It has

been asserted that no one has ever captured by hand a brittle star

perfect in all its members. "One baffled collector," said a highly

entertaining London journal recently, "who thought that he had

succeeded in coaxing a specimen into a pail, had the mortification of

seeing it dismember itself at the last moment, and asserts that the eye

which is placed at the end of a limb gave a perceptible wink as he

picked up the fragment!"

Here too, most of the "brittle stars" are self-conscious to the point

of self-obliteration. But some, though still quite worthy the specific

title FRAGILISSMA, which science has bestowed upon the tribe, may, if

taken up tenderly, be handled without the loss of a single limb, and a

limb more or less can hardly be of consequence to a creature which, no

greater than half a walnut shell, possesses five, each 12 or 14 inches

long, and supplied with innumerable feet. Further, so far, none of the

vestiges of those that have committed the form of hari-kari, fashionable

among the species, has been observed to behave in any way unbecoming the

shyest, most retiring and most sensitive of creatures. The brittle star

discards its limbs, or the best part of them, in the meekest manner

possible.

To enumerate the smaller and lowlier of the many creatures that live on

the coral reef would be a task utterly beyond ordinary capability. The

reader must be content with reference to a few of the more conspicuous

of the denizens.

THE WARTY GHOUL

Beware of the stone fish (SYNANCEIA HORRIDA), the death adder of the

sea, called also the sea-devil, because of its malice; the warty ghoul

because, perhaps, of its repulsiveness; the lion fish, because of its

habit of lurking in secret places; the sea scorpion for its venom; and

by the blacks "Mee-hee." Loathsome, secretive, inert, rough and jagged

in outline, wearing tufts and sprays of seaweed on its back, scarcely to

be distinguished from the rocks among which it lurks, it is armed with

spines steeped in the cruelest venom. Many fish are capable of

inflicting painful and even dangerous wounds, but none is to be more

dreaded than the ugly and repulsive "stone fish." Haply, it is

comparatively rare. Conceal itself as it may among the swaying seaweed

as it lies in ambush ready to seize its prey, or partially bury itself

in the mud, it seldom eludes the shrewd observation of the blacks. With

a grunt of satisfaction it is impaled with a fish-spear and placed

squirming on a rock to be battered to pulp with its prototype--a stone.

Utter destruction is the invariable fate of any stone fish detected in

these waters, the belief of the blacks being that in default fatal

effects follow a wound. But a black who suffers the rare chance of

contact fortifies his theoretical cure of pulverising the offending fish

by immersing the injured foot or hand in running water for a whole day,

the popular treatment for all venomous wounds. As to the effect of the

wound they say, "Suppose that fella nail go along your foot, you sing

out all a same bullocky all night. Leg belonga you swell up and jump

about? Bingie (belly) belonga you, sore fella. Might you die." One boy

described the detested creature--"That fella like stone. Head belonga

him no good--all hole." A graphic way of detailing a rugged depression in

the head, which conveys the idea that the bones have been staved in by a

blow with a hammer.

The stone fish resembles in character and habits the death adder. Its

disposition is pacific, it has no forwardness of temper; is never

willing to obtrude itself on notice, trusting to immobility and to its

similitude to the grey rocks and mud and brown alga to escape detection.

Unless it is actually handled or inadvertently trodden upon, it is as

innocent and as harmless as a canary. Why then should it be furnished

with such dreadful weapons of offence? A full dozen of the keenest of

spines, all in a row, extend from the depression at the back of the head

towards the tail, each spine hidden in a jagged and uneven fringe,

which, when the fish is in its natural element, can scarcely be

distinguished from seaweed. Not until the warty ghoul acquires the

sagacity which accompanies ripe age and experience, does it encourage

deceptive plumes of innocent algae to anchor themselves to its back.

Then it is that detection is beyond ordinary skill, and its presence

fraught with danger. In a specimen 8 inches long, the first spine,

counting from the head, can be exposed half an inch, the second and

chief fully three-quarters, and the remainder graduate from half to a

quarter of an inch. Each spine--clear opal blue--is surrounded by a sac of

colourless liquid (presumed to contain the poisonous element), which

squirts out as the spine is unsheathed. On the sides, and in lesser

numbers on the belly, are irregular rows of miniature craters which on

being depressed eject, to a distance of a foot or more, a liquid

resembling in colour milk with a tinge of lavender. Fast on the points

of a spear the fish gives an occasional and violent spasmodic jerk, when

the prettily tinted liquid is ejected from all the little cones. After a

pause, during which it seems to concentrate its energies, there is

another and another twitch, each the means of sprinkling broadcast what

is said to be a corrosive liquid, almost as virulent as vitriol. From

almost any part of the body this liquid exudes or can be expelled.

With its upturned cavernous mouth (interiorly a forbidding sickly

green), its spines, its cones, its eruptions, its ejecta, its great

fan-shaped pectoral fins, and its deformities generally, the stone

fish well deserves the specific title of HORRIDA. Moreover, has it

not a gift which would have brought it to the stake a few score

years ago, as a sinful, presumptuous and sacrilegious witch--that

of living for an hour or two out of its natural element. It deserves

the bad eminence to which it has been raised by the blacks on accounts

of looks alone, and if the poisonous qualities are in line with its

hideousness, one can but pause and ponder why and wherefore such a

creature has existence in "this best of all possible worlds." But it is

known that to the Chinese it is dainty. They pay for it with good grace

as much as 2s. 6d. per lb., and the flavour is said to resemble crab.

BURRA-REE

Another inhabitant of the coral garden to be avoided is the balloon fish

(TETRAODON OCELLATUS), which distends itself to the utmost capacity of

its oval body when lifted from the water. The flesh is generally

believed to be poisonous, though of tempting appearance. Authorities

assert that the pernicious principle is confined to the liver and

ovaries, and that if these are removed as soon as the fish is captured

the flesh may be eaten with impunity. Let others careless of pain and

tired of life, experiment. Middle-aged blacks tell that when a monstrous

"Burra-ree" was speared here, notwithstanding its evil repute, some of

the hungry ones cooked and ate of it. All who did so died or were sick

unto death. Some years ago two Malays in the vicinity of Cairns partook

of the flesh and died in consequence. No black will handle the fish, and

a dog which may hunt one in shallow water and mouth it, partakes of a

prompt and violent emetic. Blacks are very careful to avoid touching it

with anything shorter than a fish-spear, being of opinion that the

poison resides in or on the skin, and that the flesh becomes impregnated

when the skin is broken.

The balloon fish is toothless, the jaws resembling the beak of a turtle,

and in some species both the upper and the lower jaws have medial

sutures like those of a snake. Was there not a Roman statesman or

warrior whose jaws were fitted with a consolidated and continuous

structure of ivory instead of the ordinary separate teeth?

The balloon fish depends upon its inconspicuousness and harmony with its

environment in the struggle for existence, for, no doubt, there are in

the sea fish so strong of stomach as to accept it without a spasm. It

will allow a boat to be paddled over it as it floats--a brown

balloon--almost motionless in the water without evincing alarm, but it

makes a commotion enough for a dozen when a spear is fast in its back.

FOUR THOUSAND LIKE ONE

Among the more remarkable fish that people these waters is a species

that does not come within the limits of my limited reading on the

curious things of Nature. No doubt, it is well known to the initiated,

but I take the opportunity of saying that these notes are not penned

with the presumptuous notion of enlightening the learned and the wise,

but for the edification, mayhap, of those who do not know, who have no

means of acquiring information first hand, to whom text-books are

unavailable, and who are not above sharing the pleasures of one whose

observations are superficial, and to whom hosts of common things in

Nature are rare and entertaining.

In the clear water of Brammo Bay, a greenish black object, a yard across

by about a yard and a half long, moved slowly along, swaying this way

and that, but maintaining a fairly accurate course consistent with the

shore. As the boat drifted, it seemed as if an unsophisticated sting-ray

had lapsed into the blissfulness of ease, careless alike of mankind and of

its enemies in the water. When within reach the boat-hook was used as a

spear more to startle the indolent fish than in the vain hope of

effecting its capture. The boat-hook passed through what appeared to be

the middle of the creature with a splash, and four or five fish, about 8

inches long, and of narrow girth, floated away, stunned, killed by the

shock. Then it was realised that the apparently solid fish was really a

compact mass of little fish, moving along with common impulse and

volition, each fish having a sinuous, wriggling motion. So closely were

they packed that it was impossible without careful scrutiny to discern

individual members of the group, and so intimate their association and

so remarkable their mutual sympathy, that they seemed to possess minds

with but a single thought, hearts that beat as one. Here were not forty,

not four hundred, but more likely four thousand living, moving, and

having their being as a single individual. Dispersed for an instant as

the boat-hook or paddle was driven through it, the mass coalesced

automatically and instantly as if controlled by mechanical force, or

composed of some resilient substance, and swayed again on its course,

while the dead and stunned drifted away.

Examining the specimens procured, it was found that they resembled

lampreys in shape, olive green in colour, with pale lemon-coloured

streaks and marks. Each of the gill cases terminated in a two-edged spur,

transparent as glass, and keen as only Nature knows how to make her

weapons of defence.

Presently in obedience to some instinct the shoal left the shallow water

inshore, and we watched it glide among the brown waving seaweed to the

line of dull red, which indicated the outer edge of the coral reef and

saw it no more. This, my piscatorial pastor and master says, was no

doubt a community of striped cat-fish, (PLOTOSUS ANGUILLARIS).

THE BAILER SHELL

Adhering to a rock by a short stumpy stalk, sometimes sealed firmly to a

loose stone, you may find an object in form and structure resembling an

elongated, coreless pineapple, composed of a leathery semi-gelatinous,

semi-transparent substance, dirty yellow in colour. It is the spawn case

or the receptacle of the ova (if that term be allowable), and the cradle

of what is commonly known as the bailer shell (CYMBIUM AETHIOPICUM) the

"Ping-ah" of the blacks, one of the most singular and interesting

features that these reefs have for the sight-seer. In its composition

there may be fifty, more or less cohering, conic sections, each

containing an unborn shell in a distinct and separate stage of

development. At the base, the shells are, perhaps, just emerging each

from its special compartment, as a young bee emerges from its cell--each

a thin frail shell, about half an inch long, white with pale yellow and

light brown markings. In time, should it survive all the accidents and

assaults to which on entering the world it is beset, the tiny shell will

develop into an expansively-mouthed vessel. The next succeeding row will

be in a less matured state, and so the development diminishes towards

the apex. Some of the compartments are occupied by shells transparent,

colourless and fragile in the extreme, some by shells having merely the

rudiment of form, until at the apex the cells contain but a drop or so

of sparkling, quivering jelly.

The bailer shell alive is like an egg, in the fact that it is full of

meat. Many marine shells have surprisingly diminutive fleshy occupants,

however great their tenacity and strength. The animal inhabiting a

large-sized bailer weighs several pounds, the flesh being tough,

leathery and of unwholesome appearance. When it has decayed, the shell

being thin, the cavity is phenomenally capacious. Large specimens

contain a couple of gallons of water, and as the shape is most

convenient, and there is neither rust nor moth to corrupt, their

aptitude as effective and durable bailers for boats is apparent. Some

name them the boxer shell, tracing resemblance to a boxing-glove,

others the "boat," and again the melon shell. Blacks use them for a variety

of purposes--bailers, buckets, saucepans, drinking vessels, baskets, and

even wardrobes. They represent, perhaps, the only utensil in which a

black can boil food, and it is an astonishing though not edifying

spectacle when the fat-layered intestine of a turtle, sodden in salt water

just brought to a boil in a bailer shell, is eagerly devoured by hungry

blacks.

A RIVAL TO THE OYSTER

Down the caverns of the submerged rocks and blocks of coral are two or

three species of ECHINUS (sea-urchins), with long and slender spines

radiating from their spheroid bodies. One (DIADERNA SETOSA) is

distinguished by what appears to be precious jewels of sparkling

blue--believed to be visual organs--which lose their brilliancy

immediately on removal from the water. Another has a centre of coral

pink. The black spines, 10 inches or so long, are exquisitely sharp, and

brittle in the extreme. Some believe that the animals are endowed with

the power of thrusting these weapons forward to meet the intrusive hand,

for unless approached with caution they prick the fingers while yet

seemingly out of reach. Admitting that I have never yet attempted rudely

to grasp this creature (which certainly is capable of presenting its

array of spines whither it wills) while submerged, for the mere purpose

of testing its ability to defend itself--my enthusiasm being tempered by

the caution of the mere amateur--it may be said that some of the spines

appear to be blunt. All could hardly be "sharper than needles," for

being used as a means of locomotion among and over and in the crevices

of the coral and rocks, some are necessarily worn at the points. With

care they may be handled without injury, though at first glance it

would seem impossible to avoid the numerous weapons. Imagine a brittle

tennis ball stuck full of long slender needles, many tapering to

microscopic keenness at the points, climbing stiffly along the

edges of rocks by a few of the stilt-like needles, and a very fair

figure of the ECHINUS is presented. As a curious and beautiful creature

he is full of interest, and as an adjunct to one's diet he is, in due

season, full of excellent meat. We take the ugly and forbidding oyster

with words of gratitude and flattery on our lips, and why pass with

disrespect the creature that is beautiful and wonderful as well as

savoury? To enjoy it to perfection, extricate the creature from his

lurking place far down in the blue crevice of the coral, with a

fish-spear. Don't experiment with your fingers. On the gunwale of your

boat divest it of its slender black spines, and with a knife fairly

divide the spheroid body, and a somewhat nauseous-looking meat is

disclosed; but no more objectionable in appearance than the substance of

a fully ripe passion fruit. The flavour! Ah, the flavour! It surpasseth

the delectable oyster. It hath more of the savour and piquancy of the

ocean. It clingeth to the palate and purgeth it of grosser tastes. It

recalleth the clean and marvellous creature, whose life has been spent

in cool coral grottoes, among limestone and the salty essences of the

pure and sparkling sea, and if you be wise and devout and grateful, you

forthwith give praise for the enjoyment of a new and rare sensation.

The ECHINUS is said to be essentially herbivorous, but my cursory

observation leads me to the opinion (very humbly proffered) that it

fulfils a definite purpose in the order of Nature, too, and depends for

sustenance, or for the building up of its structure, upon certain

constituents of the coral. Does it not break and grind down to powder

the ramparts of coral? Clumsy and ill-shaped as it appears to be in

other respects, it has jaws of wonderful design, and known to the

ancients as "Aristotle's lantern." They are composed of five strips of

bony substance, with enamel-like tips overlying each other in the centre

of the disc-shaped mouth. With this splendid instrument the creature grips

and breaks off or gnaws off, or bores out crumbs of coral which you find,

apparently in process of digestion, as you render him an acceptable

morsel. Scientific observers affirm that by means of an acid which the

ECHINUS secretes, it disintegrates the rock, and that the jaws are used

merely to clear away the softened rubbish. How is it then that the

globular cavity is often well-ballasted with tiny crisp chunks of coral

rock? Possibly to the assimilation of the lime is due, in some

measure, the singularly sweet and expressive savour. So we see the

coral-reef-building polyps toiling with but little rest, almost

incessantly labouring to raise architectural devices of infinite design,

and other creatures as industriously tearing them down to form the solid

foundation of continents.

Another species of ECHINUS eludes its enemies by the adoption of a

cumbersome and forbidding mask. Ineffectively armed, the spines though

numerous being short and frail, it holds empty bivalve shells on its

uppermost part, The unstudied accumulation of debris--a fair sample of

the surrounding ocean floor--would fail to fix notice, but that it moves

bodily and without apparent cause. Inspection penetrates the disguise.

Wheresoever the ECHINUS goes--its progress is infinitely slow--it

carries a self-imposed burden--the refuse of dead and inanimate

things--that it may, by imposition upon its foes, continue in the

way of life.

SHARKS AND SKIPPERS

Local blacks have no fear of sharks. They take every care to avoid

crocodiles, exercising great caution and circumspection when crossing

inlets and tidal creeks. So shrewd are their observations that they will

describe distinctive marks of particular crocodiles and indicate their

favourite resorts. Their indifference to sharks is founded on the belief

that those which inhabit shallow water among the islands never attack a

living man. Blacks remain for hours together in the water on the reefs

when beche-de-mer fishing, and the record of an attack is rare indeed.

They are far more fearful of the monstrous groper (PROMICROPS ITAIARA),

which lying inert among the coral blocks and boulders of the Barrier Reef,

bolts anything and everything which comes its way, and which will follow

a man in the water with dogged determination, foreign to the nervous,

suspicious shark. Recently a vigorous young black boy was attacked by a

groper while diving for beche-de-mer. The fish took the boy's head into

its capacious mouth, mauling him severely about the head and shoulders,

and but for his valiant and determined struggles would doubtless have

succeeded in killing him.

Such an incident as the following does not convince blacks that the

sharks of the Barrier Reef are dangerous. The captain of a beche-de-mer

cutter was paddling in a dinghy along the edge of a detached reef not

many miles from Dunk Island, while several of his boys were swimming and

diving. Suddenly one of them was seized and so terribly mutilated that

he died in a few minutes. Although the captain was within 8 or 10 feet

of the boy, and three of his mates not more than a few yards off, though

all were wearing swimming goggles which enable them when diving to

distinguish objects at a considerable range, though the sea was calm and

clear and the water barely 10 feet deep, no one saw a shark or any other

fish capable of inflicting such injuries as had caused the death of

"Jimmy," nor was there any disturbance of the surface of the water. Years

before a countryman of the unfortunate "Jimmy" was mauled by a small

shark, but got away, though crippled for life. By some quaint process of

reasoning the companions of the boy who was killed connected his death

with the attack upon the other, the scene of which was 200 miles

distant, and became convinced that he had been the victim of another kind

altogether "--a sort of mysterious marine debil-debil," not known to

entire satisfaction by the best-informed black boy, and quite beyond the

comprehension of the dull-witted white man. Having thus conclusively to

their minds set at naught the theory that a shark was responsible, it was

absolutely unreasonable to fear sharks generally. Why should they blame

a shark when it was established beyond doubt that nothing but a

"debil-debil" could have killed "Jimmy"? Their opinion was founded on this

invincible array of logic: If a shark had killed "Jimmy," it must have

been seen. Nothing was seen, therefore it must have been a "debil-debil."

And the incident was accepted as a further and most emphatic proof of the

contention that sharks do not "fight" live black boys. The single instance

at Princess Charlotte Bay was an exception.

Our tame sharks seem to have no fear of animals larger even than man. A

shallow stretch of water half a mile broad separates the islets of

Mung-un-gnackum and Kumboola from Dunk Island. At low-water spring-tides

two connecting bands are exposed--a sand-bank and a broad, flat coral

reef, between which is a lagoon, in which the water may be 6 or 7 feet

deep. The horses of the estate are in the habit of making excursions to

Kumboola, the desire for change being manifested so strongly that

occasionally they will swim across when the tide is full. One of the

horses was returning from an outing when there was a depth of about 3

feet on the sand-bank. As it approached the beach a shark, apparently

making out from the lagoon, was seen suddenly to change its course, and

follow the horse at a discreet distance. When only 50 yards from the

beach the shark made an impetuous rush, and snapped at one of the

horse's forefeet. The horse swerved, plunged and lashed out vigorously

and with such excellent precision that the shark was kicked like a

football out of the water. It appeared to be 5 or 6 feet long, and to be

quite satisfied that the horse, like a black, was not to be molested

until it was past resistance. The horse bore the marks of the affray on

the pastern for weeks.

Again when a favourite dog jumped overboard from the boat in an eager

but ridiculous venture after a "skipper," a shark detected the dog and

shadowed it. As we went about to pick up the dog the dorsal fin of the

shark indicated the wily, leisurely way in which it was keeping pace,

reconnoitring and waiting until its prey was exhausted, while the dog did

not appear to realise that a "frightful fiend" did close behind him swim.

As the boat approached, the shark swerved off flippantly, but hovered in

the vicinity, unsatisfied as to the identity of the new and strange animal

that had so unaccountably appeared in its natural element and as

suddenly disappeared. A rifle bullet, a little to the rear of the base

of the dorsal fin, however, made it wobble and bustle away on a most

eccentric route.

The term "skipper," purely local, is intended to distinguish that

singular fish, of the "long tom" (ZYLOSURUS, sp.) or alligator-pike,

which shoots from the water and skips along by striking and flipping the

surface with its tail, while keeping the rest of its pike-like body

rigid and almost perpendicular. Each stroke is accomplished by a

ludicrous wriggling movement. It would seem that by the impact of the

tail upon the water the fish maintains its abnormal position and also

sustains for a time its initial velocity. For a hundred yards or so its

speed is considerable, equal to the flight of a bird, but the length of

each successive skip rapidly diminishes, as the original impulse is

exhausted, and then the fish disappears as suddenly as it shot into

view. The "skipper" is an exceptionally supple fish. It is excellent

eating, probably the sweetest fish of these waters, and it is much

appreciated by blacks, who call it by the pretty name of "Curram-ill,"

and spear it whensoever chance affords.

GORGEOUS AND CURIOUS

The most gorgeous denizen of these waters is likewise one of the most

curious--a fish resembling the surf parrot fish (PSEUDOSCARUS

RIVULATUS), but seeming to surpass even that brilliant creature in

colouring. It subsists on limpets and may be seen, a lustrous blue,

at half tide feeding in favourite localities. The shape of the head

and shoulders reveals something of the character of the fish, though

the purpose of its resplendent appearance may not be obvious. Both

head and jaws typify strength and leverage power. The mouth resembles

the beak of a turtle or rather that of a balloon fish (TETRAODON).

The under jaw protrudes slightly, and is fitted (in the case of the

male) with two prominent canine teeth; the upper jaw has also a pair

of projecting teeth of similar character. Each of the jaws consists

of two loosely sutured segments, the articulation of the lower being

much the freer. The gullet is horny and rasp-like, and in its exterior

opening is an auxiliary set of teeth of most remarkable formation.

The upper part of this interior set in some respect resembles the

under jaws of a land animal, but there are marked distinctions.

It consists of two bony structures, slightly curved outwards,

lying parallel to each other and bound together by tough ligaments

which not only permit a certain amount of independent lateral

movement, but also independent action forwards and backwards. Each of

the structures is fitted with a dozen to sixteen closely packed teeth,

and at the rear of each is a magazine charged with five or six more,

ready to move up and forward into position for active service as those

ahead are worn away. The principle of modern magazine rifles is

surprisingly exemplified by these reserve teeth. The lower jaw or rather

dental plate resembles a flattened palate; the whole surface being

studded with teeth, the edges of which overlap. It may be described as a

piece of mosaic work in white and ivory. There are between sixty and

seventy teeth resembling incisors on the dental plate. The whole seem to

be in a state of perennial renewal to compensate for wear and tear. As

those of the front row are broken or worn down, the next succeeding row

occupies the frontal position. The teeth are deeply set in the bony base

of the inverted palate, or rather obtrude but slightly above the

surface, their office being to break down and grind to powder flinty

food.

The outward and visible teeth of the male are apparently given as

weapons of defence, since they do not occur in the female, which has

four back teeth. From their prominent position the teeth of the male

must also be used for grasping and levering or pulling steadfast

limpets from rocks. They needs must be hard and have strength as well

as science at the back of them, for a limpet can resist a pulling

force of nearly 2000 times its own weight. The sutures of the jaws

of the fish enable it to accommodate its grip to the various sizes

of limpets, and to take a fair and square hold, while the lower jaw

seems to act as a fulcrum when the leverage is applied. But the

exterior jaws and teeth are devoid of interest, compared with the

interior set, which form an ideal pulverising apparatus. To those

who are versed in ichthyology, these are known as pharyngeal teeth,

because they are connected with the pharynx. Such teeth are present

in some form or other in all true fish, but usually in a degraded

form. In the rainbow and parrot fish they are highly specialised,

otherwise the pulverisation of the hard shell of molluscs would be

impossible. The interior of the mouth of certain species of the shark

family, given specially to a diet of oysters, is thickly set with

a series of uniformly diffused minute teeth, and another fish of

these seas has a gizzard composed of an intensely tough material,

lined with membrane resembling shark's skin. This fish swallows

cockles and such like molluscs whole, and grinds them in its gizzard.

And the colouring of this wonderful creature! The semi-transparent

dorsal fin, which extends without a break from the back of the head

to the tail, is broad and slightly scalloped. It displays an upper

edging of radiant blue, a broad band of iridescent pink with greenish

opal-like lights, and a narrow streak of the richest emerald green,

close along the back. The body is covered with large scales, the

colouring of which conveys a general appearance of an elaborate

system of slightly elongated hexagons, generally blue outlined with

pink, sometimes golden-yellow combined with green; and the colours flash

and change with indescribable radiance. The head is decorated with bands

of pink, orange and green; the pectoral fins are pale green with a bold

medial stripe of puce, and the tail is a study of blue-green and puce.

When the fish is drawn from the water the colours live, the play of

lights being marvellously lovely. The colours differ, and they also vary

in intensity in individuals. Though the prevailing tint may be radiant

blue, it will be shot with gold in one and with pink in another.

The flesh is edible, though (as is common with parrot fish) not

particularly admirable with regard to flavour. It is wonderful and

beautiful. Are not these qualities all-sufficient? Must everything be

good to eat? To the natives of the island this jewel of the sea is

known as "Oo-ril-ee," and to scientists as belonging to the scaroid

family.

TURTLE GENERALLY

Three species of turtle frequent these waters--the loggerhead

(THALASSOCHELYS CARETTA), the hawksbill (CHELONE IMBRICATA), and the

green (CHELONE MYDAS). Both of the latter are herbivorous and edible;

but the flesh of the first-named, a fish and mollusc eater, is rank and

strong, and it is therefore not hunted, the shell being of little if any

value. Loggerhead, however, is not disregarded by the blacks, though to

the unaccustomed nose the flesh has a most repulsive smell. It is

powerful and fierce when molested. One which was harpooned, on being

hauled up to the boat seized the gunwale and left the marks of its beak

deep in the wood. The creature seems also to be endowed with greater

vitality than the other species, and this fact may excite the wonder of

those who have seen the heart of a green turtle pulsate long after

removal from the body, and the limbs an hour after separation shrink

from the knife and quiver.

The hawks-bill furnishes the tortoiseshell of commerce, and is much

sought after. The flesh is highly tainted with the specific flavour

of turtle, and therefore objectionable, though blacks relish it.

Further north, in some localities, it is generally believed that the

flesh of the hawks-bill may be imbued with a deadly poison. Great care is

exercised in the killing and butchering, lest a certain gland, said to

be located in the neck or shoulder, be opened, as flesh cut with a knife

which has touched the critical part becomes impregnated. Here, though

the blacks take precautions in the butchering a hawks-bill (being aware

of its bad repute elsewhere), they have had no actual experience of the

unwholesomeness of the flesh. One old seafarer acknowledges that he

nearly "pegged out" as the result of a hearty meal of the liver of a

hawks-bill. As is well known, fish edible in one region may be poisonous

in another (Saville-Kent); the same principle may apply to the turtle.

The flesh of the luth or leathery turtle (DERMOCHELYS CORIACEA) which

diets on fish, crustacea, molluscs, radiates, and other animals, causes

symptoms of poisoning; but the luth does not appear to be common in this

part of the Pacific, though it occurs in Torres Straits.

In a standard work on natural history it is asserted that the natives

remove the overlapping plates of tortoiseshell from the hawks-bill by

lighting a fire on the back of the creature, causing them to peel off

easily. "After the plates have been removed, the turtle is permitted to

go free, and after a time it is furnished with a second set of plates."

Surely this might be classed among the fabulous stories of Munchausen.

As the lungs of the turtle lie close to the anterior surface of the

carapace, the degree of heat sufficient to cause the plates to come off

would assuredly be fatal. Possibly there is explanation at hand. The

turtle being killed, the carapace is removed and placed over a gentle

fire, and then the plates are eased off with a knife. But that method is

not generally approved. Professional tortoiseshell-getters either trust

to the heat of the sun or bury the shell in clean sand, and when

decomposition sets in, the valuable plates are detached freely. Exposure

to fire deteriorates the quality of the product unless great care is

exercised.

The green turtle, with thin dovetailing plates, is the most plentiful

and valued principally for food. But all green turtle are not acceptable.

An old bull is so rank, that "there is no living near it--it would infect

the North Star!" There are many Europeans who cannot relish even good

green turtle, however tender, delicate, and sweet it may be. The worthy

chaplain of Anson's fleet who "wrote up" the famous voyages, has some

shrewd observations on the subject of green turtle, which he refers to

as the most delicious of all flesh, "so very palatable and salubrious,"

though proscribed by the Spaniards as unwholesome and little less than

poisonous. He suggests that the strange appearance of the animal may

have been the foundation of "this ridiculous and superstitious aversion."

Perhaps the poor Spaniards of those days happened in the first instance

upon an ancient bull, or a hawks-bill, and tapped the poison gland, or a

loggerhead or a luth, and came ever after to entertain, with right good

cause, a holy terror of turtle, irrespective of species.

An interesting phase in the life-history of the green turtle is the

deception the female employs when about to lay eggs. Her "nests" are

shallow pits in the sand. She may make several during a hasty visit to a

favourite beach, while postponing the laying until the following day.

Whether this is a conscious stratagem by which the turtle hopes to

mislead and bewilder other animals partial to the eggs, or merely a

caprice--one of those idle fancies which the feminine part of animated

Nature frequently indulge in at a time when their faculties are at

unusual tension--does not appear to be quite understood. When serious

business is intended, the turtle scoops new pits, leaving some of them

partially and others quite unfilled. These also appear to be intended to

delude. That in which the eggs are deposited is filled in and the

surface smoothed and flattened, and in cases where the nest is any

distance beyond the limits of high-water, it is frequently carelessly

covered with grass and dead leaves. The heat of the sun hatches the

eggs. But the guile of the turtle is limited. However artfully the real

nest may be concealed, the tracks to and fro as well as the tracks to

and from the many counterfeits are as unmistakable, until the wind

obliterates them, as the tracks of a treble-furrow plough. The chances

against an unintellectual lover of turtle eggs discovering a fresh nest

off-hand are in exact ratio to the number of deceptive appearances. In a

few days all the tracks are blotted out, and then none but those skilled

or possessed of keen perception may detect the nest. Blacks probe all

the likely spots with spears, and soon fix on the right one.

In a certain locality where the hawks-bill turtle congregate in untold

numbers, a remarkable deviation from the general habit has been

observed. Several of the islands are composed of a kind of conglomerate

of coral debris, shells and sand. With strange perversity some turtle

excavate in the rock cylindrical shafts about 18 inches deep by 6 inches

diameter with smooth perpendicular sides. There is no adjunct to the

flippers which appears to be of service in the digging, yet the holes

are such that a man would find it impossible to make without the use of

a chisel. Whether they are dug with the flippers, or bored, or bitten

out with the bill, does not appear to be known. Eggs varying in numbers

from 120 to 150 are deposited in each shaft, and covered loosely with

the spoil from the excavation.

When the young are hatched only those on top are able to clamber out.

They represent but a very small percentage of the family. The majority

die miserably, being unable to get out of what is their tomb as well as

their birthplace. In the vicinity are sandy beaches on which other

hawks-bill turtle deposit their eggs in accordance with time-honoured

plans, and successfully rear large families. Why some individuals should

be at such pains to defeat the universal instinct for the propagation

and preservation of their species, is a puzzle. Moreover, hundreds of

these anomalous nests are excavated some distance beyond high-water,

in country where the growth of grass is so strong and dense as to

form an almost impenetrable barrier to those infantile turtle which

have the fortune to get out of the death-traps, and in obedience

to instinct, endeavour to reach the sea. Is it that Nature, "so careful

of the type" imposes Malthusian practices to avoid the danger of

overcrowding the "never-surfeited sea?" Notwithstanding the positive

check upon increase, the young are produced in myriads.

"Sambo," a black boy, who had visited this isle, on his return to

shores where turtle are less numerous, sought to impress his master with

the substantial charms of the faraway North. "When," he said, "you come

close up, you look out. Hello! You think about stone. No stone;

altogether turtle!"

There, to within a recent date, might be seen the bones of fourteen

great green turtle side by side in a row. At first glance the scene

seems a sanctified death-place for the species, until you are informed

that a visitor to the isle, astonished at the number of turtle on the

beach, and eager to secure an abundance of fresh meat, turned over

fourteen, intending to call again for them. Circumstances prevented him

from re-visiting the place, and the turtle, being unable to right

themselves, perished.

Personal observation and inquiries from many men whose lives may be said

to be spent among turtle on the Barrier Reef convince me that blacks

never venture to get astride a turtle in the water. One more daring and

agile may seize a turtle, and by throwing his weight aft cause the head

to tilt out of the water. The turtle then strikes out frantically with

its flippers, but the boy so counterbalances it that the head is kept

above the surface continuously, until the turtle becoming exhausted is

guided into shallow water or alongside a boat, where it is secured with

the help of others. Boys who accomplish this feat are few and far

between, though it is by no means uncommon for a turtle to be seized

while in the water and overturned, in which position it is helpless. A

turtle detected in shallow water falls a comparatively easy prey,

for on being hustled it soon loses heart and endeavours to hide its

head, ostrich-like, when it is easily captured. None unacquainted with

the skill with which the creature can spar with its flippers, and the

effectiveness of these flippers, when used as weapons of defence,

should venture to grip a turtle in its natural element.

Another species, stated to have a circumscribed habitat, has a steep

dome-shaped back, resembling at a casual glance a seamless metal

casting, with the edges abruptly turned up. The head is large, the eyes

deeply embedded in their sockets, and the animal has the power of

protruding and withdrawing the head much more extensively developed than

usual. The "death's head" staring from beneath the dome-shaped back

gives to the animal a most gruesome aspect. These details are supplied

by the master of a beche-de-mer schooner, to whom all the nooks and

corners of the Great Barrier Reef and of the other Coral Sea beyond,

from New Guinea to New Caledonia, are familiar. He says that the

species, as far as his observation goes, is confined to the

neighbourhood of one group of islands. To others this is known as the

"bastard tortoiseshell." The back is not actually seamless, but age

causes the plates to cohere so closely as to present that appearance.

THE MERMAID OF TO-DAY

Dugong (HALICORE AUSTRALIS) still frequent these waters. The rapacity of

the blacks is a rapidly diminishing factor in their extermination, and

the rushing to and fro of steamers, which it was thought would scare

away those which remain, is becoming too familiar to be fearsome. Even

in the narrow limits of Hinchinbrook Channel, through which the passing

of steamers is of everyday occurrence, they still exist, though not in

such numbers as in the early days. It would seem that the waters within

the Great Barrier Reef may long continue one of the last resorts of this

strange, uncouth, paradoxical mammal.

Half hippopotamus, half seal, yet in no way related to either, something

between a pachyderm and cetacean, the dugong is a herbivorous marine

mammal, commonly known as "the sea cow," because of its resemblance in

some particulars to that useful domesticated animal. It grazes on marine

grass (POSIDONIA AUSTRALIS), parts of the flesh very closely resemble

beef, and post-mortem examination reveals internal structure similar in

most details to those of its namesake. But, unlike the cow, the dugong

has two pectoral mammae instead of an abdominal udder, and like the

whale is unable to turn its head, the vertebrae of the neck being, if

not fused into one mass, at least compressed into a small space.

In form it resembles a seal, the body tapering from the middle to the

fish-like, bi-lobed tail. As with the whale, the flippers or arms do not

contribute any considerable means of locomotion, but are used, in the

case of the female at least, for grasping the young. When the mother is

nursing her child, holding it to her breasts, she is careful as she

rises to breathe, that it, too, may obtain a gulp of fresh air, and the

two heads emerging together present a strangely human aspect. Traces of

elementary hind legs are to be found in some small bones lying loosely

in the flesh. The skull is singularly formed, the upper jaw being bent

over the lower. The huge pendulous, rubber-like under lip, so studded

with coarse, sharp bristles as to be known as the brush, seems a

development of the under lip of the horse, and is a perfect implement

for the gathering of slimy grass.

To further detail the paradoxes of the dugong, it may be said that some

of the teeth resemble those of an elephant; that the males have ivory

tusks and of ivory their bones are made; that parts of the flesh may

hardly be distinguished from veal and other parts from fine young pork.

The freshly flayed hide is fully half an inch thick, and when cured and

dried resembles horn in consistency.

Reddish grey, sometimes almost olive green in colour, with white

blotches and sparse, coarse bristles, the animal has no comeliness,

and yet when a herd frolics in the water, rising in unison with

graceful undulatory movements for air, and the sunlight flashes in

helioscopic rays from wet backs, the spectacle is rare and fine. Rolling

and lurching along, gambolling like good-humoured, contented children,

the herd moves leisurely to and from favourite feeding-grounds,

occasionally splashing mightily with powerful tails to make fountains of

illuminated spray--great, unreflecting, sportful water-babes. Admiration

is enhanced as one learns of the affection of the dugong for its young

and its love for the companionship of its fellows. When one of a pair is

killed, the other haunts the locality for days. Its suspirations seem

sighs, and its presence melancholy proof of the reality of its

bereavement.

For some time after birth the young is carried under one or other of the

flippers, the dam hugging it affectionately to her side.

As the calf grows, it leaves its mother's embrace, but swims close

beside, following with automatic precision every twist and lurch of her

body, its own helplessness and its implicit faith in the wisdom and

protective influence of its parent being exemplified in every movement.

Blacks harpoon dugong as they do turtle, but the sport demands greater

patience and dexterity, for the dugong is a wary animal and shy, to be

approached only with the exercise of artful caution. An inadvertent

splash of the paddle or a miss with the harpoon, and the game is away

with a torpedo-like swirl. To be successful in the sport the black must

be familiar with the life-history of the creature to a certain

extent--understanding its peregrinations and the reason for them--the

strength and trend of currents and the locality of favourite

feeding-grounds. Fragments of floating grass sometimes tell where the

animal is feeding. An oily appearance on the surface of the sea shows

its course, and if the wind sits in the right quarter the keen-scented

black detects its presence when the animal has risen to breathe at a

point invisible to him. He must know also of the affection of the female

for her calf, and be prepared to play upon it implacably. In some

localities the blacks were wont to manufacture nets for the capture

of dugong, and nets are still employed by them under the direction

of white men; for the flesh of the dugong is worthily esteemed,

and oil from the blubber--sweet, and limpid as distilled water--is

said to possess qualities far superior to that obtained from the

decaying livers of cod fish in the restoration of health and vigour

to constitutions enfeebled and wasted by disease,

Using a barbless point attached to a long and strong line, and fitted

into a socket in the heavy end of the harpoon shaft, the black waits and

watches. With the utmost caution and in absolute silence he follows in

his canoe the dugong as it feeds, and strikes as it rises to breathe. A

mad splash, a wild rush! The canoe bounces over the water as the line

tightens. Its occupant sits back and steers with flippers of bark, until

as the game weakens he is able to approach and plunge another harpoon

into it. Sometimes the end of the line is made fast to a buoy of light

wood which the creature tows until exhausted.

So contractible and tough is the skin, that once the point of the

harpoon is embedded in it, nothing but a strong and direct tug will

release it. Some blacks substitute for the barbless point four pieces of

thin fencing wire--each about 4 inches long, bound tightly together at

one end, the loose ends being sharpened and slightly diverged. This is

fastened to the line and inserted in the socket of the haft, and when it

hits it holds to the death, though the animal may weigh three-quarters

of a ton.

It is stated that the blacks towards Cape York having secured the animal

with a line attached to a dart insufficient in length to penetrate the

hide and the true skin, seize it by the nose, and plug the nostrils with

their fingers until it drowns. Here, too, the natives have discovered

that the nose is the vulnerable part of the dugong, and having first

harpooned it in any part of the body, await an opportunity of spearing

it there, with almost invariably speedy fatal effects.

The flesh of a young dugong is sweet and tender, and the blubber,

dry-cured after the manner of bacon with equal quantities of salt and

sugar and finally smoked, quite a delicacy.

Not long since an opportunity was given of examining the effects of a

bullet on a dugong. We had harpooned a calf perhaps a year and a half

old, and as it rose to the surface in the first struggle for freedom, I

shot it, using a Winchester repeating carbine, 25-35, carrying a metal

patched bullet. There was no apparent wound, and on the second time of

rising another bullet was lodged in the head, causing instantaneous

death. When the animal came to be skinned, it was found that the first

bullet had completely penetrated the body, the tough, rubber-like hide

so contracting over the wounds of entry and exit as to entirely prevent

external bleeding. The fatal bullet had almost completely pulverised the

skull, the bones of which were ivory-like in texture. The appearance of

the skull might have led to the conclusion that an explosive instead of

a nickel-plated bullet had been used, while if the first bullet had not

penetrated several folds of the intestines, no doubt it would have

caused the animal very little inconvenience.

The dugong rises to the surface at frequent intervals for air, and the

ancients in the rounded heads of the mother and her offspring fancied a

resemblance to human beings, who sought to lure the unwary to their

mansions beneath the waves. Hence the scientific title "Sirenia" for

the family to which the dugong belongs. Unpoetical people as the coastal

blacks of Queensland are, yet they were among the few who had for

neighbours the shy creatures upon whose existence was founded the quaint

and engaging legends of the mermaid.

But now we make prosaic bacon from the mermaid's blubbery sides. And

those long tresses which she was wont to comb as she gloated over her

comeliness in her oval mirror and sang those alluring strains, so

soothing, so sweet, yet so deceiving--those wet and tangled locks, where

are they? Is the whole realm of Nature becoming bald? The hair

of the mermaid of to-day is coarse, short and spiky, with inches

between each sprout. For a comb she uses a jagged rock, or cruel coral;

for her vanity there is no semblance of pardon; and for her seductive

plaint, has it not degenerated into a gulping unmelodious sigh, as she

fills her capacious lungs with atmospheric air?

BECHE-DE-MERE

Anticipating the possibility of readers away from the Coral Sea, and to

whom no reference to the subject is available, wondering as to the form

and character of beche-de-mer, let it be said that the commonest kind in

these waters is an enormous slug, varying from 6 inches long by an inch

and a half in diameter, to 3 feet 6 inches by 4 inches. Rough and

repulsive in appearance, and sluggish in habit, it has great power of

contractibility. It may assume a dumpy oval shape, and again drag out

its slow length until it resembles an attenuated German sausage, black

in colour. Its "face" may be obtruded and withdrawn at pleasure, or

rather will, for what creature could have pleasure in a face like a

ravelled mop.

Termed also trepang, sea cucumber, sea slug, cotton spinner, and known

scientifically as Holothuridae, no less than twenty varieties have been

described and are identified by popular and technical titles.

The "fish" are collected by black boys on the coral reefs--dived for,

picked up with spears from punts, or by hand in shallow water. Some

prefer to fish at high-water, for then the beche-de-mere are less shy,

and emerge from nooks in the rocks and coral, and in the limpid water on

the Barrier are readily seen at considerable depths. Then the boys dive

or dexterously secure the fish with their slender but tough spears, 4

fathoms long.

At the curing station (frequently on board the owner's schooner or

lugger) they are boiled, the fish supplying nearly all the water for

their own cooking. Then each is cut open lengthwise, with a sharp knife,

and by a thin skewer of wood its interior surface is exposed. Placed

on wire-netting trays in series the fish are smoked or desiccated

in a furnace heated, preferably, with black or red mangrove wood,

and finally exposed to the sun to eliminate dampness which may have

been absorbed on removal from the smoke-house. When the fish leave

the smoke-house they have shrunk to small dimensions, and resemble

pieces of smoked buffalo hide, more or less curled and crumpled.

In this condition they are sent away to China and elsewhere to be

used in soup. Australian gourmands are beginning to appreciate this

delicacy, which is said to be marvellously strengthening, though

without elaborate cooking it is almost tasteless, and therefore

unlike dugong soup, which surpasses turtle in flavour and delicacy,

and would fatten up a skeleton. Beche-de-mer is merely a substantial

foundation or stock for a more or less artistic culinary effort.

Beche-de-mer realises as much as 160 pounds per ton. In former days

"red prickly fish," was the most highly-prized on the Chinese markets,

but several years ago a fisherman in the neighbourhood of Cooktown used

a copper boiler. Several Chinese epicures died after partaking of soup

made from a particular parcel, and "red prickly" was forthwith

credited with poisonous qualities. The consignment was traced to its

origin, and popular opinion at the time was that the boiler had, unknown

to the proprietor of the station, induced verdigris. Investigation,

however, gave ground for the belief that the fish in the boiling exuded

juices of such corrosive qualities that the copper was chemically acted

upon. Beche-de-mer, is now invariably cooked in iron vessels, the bottom

half of a malt tank being a common boiler, and the "red prickly," after

being absolutely worthless for many years--so quaint are Oriental

prejudices--is now regaining favour in that market.

Beche-de-mer, though called fish by tradesmen, neither swims nor floats;

neither does it crawl, nor wriggle, nor hop, skip nor jump. It simply

"moves" on the ocean floor, when not reposing in apparently absolute

and unconscious idleness like its distant relative, the star-fish. Nor

does the creature possess any means of self-protection. Some species are

rough and prickly, and are said to irritate the hand that grasps them.

Others either in nervousness, or a result of shock to the system, or to

amaze and affright the beholder, shoot out interminable lengths of

filmy, cottony threads, white and glutinous, until one is astonished

that a small body should contain such a quantity of yarn ready spun, to

eject at a moment's notice like the mazes of ribbon drawn from a

conjurer's hat.

While it would be idle to particularise the different varieties of

beche-de-mer, that lead such lowly lives in the coral reef here, there

is one more conspicuous than the others, which may be referred to

without presuming to trespass on the preserves of scientific inquirers.

Indeed, it is entitled to notice, for it seems to be most prominent

among the few which afford examples of unconscious mimicry and

sympathetic coloration to insure themselves from molestation.

Beche-de-mer does not generally give the idea of capability of even the

simplest form of deception. True, the "black fish," shrinking from

observation, puts on a cloak of sand, and a cousin assumes a resemblance

to an irregular piece of coral--rugged, sea-stained and rotten. But the

variety under notice takes a higher place in the deceptive art, for it

seems to pose as an understudy to one of the most nimble and vicious

habitants of the sea--the banded snake. It lies coiled and folded among

the stones and coral of the reef, or partially hidden by brown seaweed,

which heightens its momentary effect upon the nerves of the barefooted

Beachcomber. Its length is from 4 to 5 feet, girth about 3 inches,

colour reddish brown, with darker bands and blotches. The deception is

in appearance only. A touch reveals an innocent but shocking fraud--a

poor despicable dummy, lacking the meanest characteristic of its alert

original.

Limp and impotent, it is little more than a skin full of water, a yard

and a half of intestine with no superficial indication of difference

between head and tail. Watch closely, and the "face,"--a much frayed

mop--is shyly obtruded from one end, and there is justification for the

opinion that the other end is the tail. Possibly, after all, this may

not be a true variety of beche-de-mer. In that case an apology to the

rest of the tribe is necessary; though the mop-like face betrays a

strong family likeness.

If this dolefully helpless creature be lifted by the middle on a stick,

its liquid contents are instantly separated, forming distended,

high-pressure blobs at each end of the empty, flabby shrunken skin.

Though it suffers this experiment placidly, being incapable of the

feeblest resistance, it has the primordial gift of care of itself. Twists

purposely made to test its degree of intelligence are artfullystraightened

out, and the eagerness and hurry with which water is forced throughout

empty parts show that life is both sweet and precious. And what is the

value of life to an animal of such homely organism and so few wants?

And under what charter of rights does it slink among the coral and weed

affrighting God-fearing man under the cloak of his first subtle enemy?