“Uncle Bob has just returned from California,” said the boy named
Billy, “and has brought Big Sister a necklace of very beautiful
coral beads; not a bit like the dark red branchy looking ones
that she has had since she was a baby! These are rose pink with
little hand-carved roses all over them. What sort of a stone is
coral, and where is it found? It’s lovely!”
“Strictly speaking,” said Somebody, “although coral has all the
appearance of stone it isn’t that at all, although it is just as
dangerous to a ship to run aground on a reef of it as it would be
to run on the rocks--it’s so jagged and sharp. It is really the
bones you might say of living creatures which made their homes in
that particular spot for ages and dying have left their skeletons
behind them for a monument.
“These little sea animals are called polyps and the coral grows
inside their soft outer structure just as your bones do inside
your flesh. Among the greatest architects in the world are the
little coral-making animals, creatures of shallow water in the
warmer seas. Some kinds live all alone, but the commoner ones
live in colonies of many individuals united by a stalk with
many branches--sort of a family tree you might say--indeed they
were once called plant animals. They have a very helpful and
economical way of living,” went on Somebody, “for when something
good to eat swims or floats within reach of one little polyp’s
mouth he sucks it in, swallows it, and all his hungry relatives
get the benefit of it.”
“That’s what I’d call being real chummy,” said the boy named
Billy. “How do they manage that?”
“They have a sort of family stomach,” said Somebody, “or
reservoir into which all food absorbed by the colony goes.”
“I don’t believe I’d like that very well,” said Billy. “One
fellow might have to eat all the things he didn’t care about and
another would get all the pie.”
“I do not suppose the polyp has much to boast of in the way of
the sense of taste,” laughed Somebody, “but you’ve got to admit
that he does his duty as he sees it without shirking.”
“I should say he does,” said Billy. “What else does he do besides
working for the good of his family?”
“He has a quite important hand in making the ‘beauteous land,’”
said Somebody. “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, extending
a thousand miles along the coast and in some places from one to
three miles wide, was made entirely by the Polyps. Also the keys
of Florida, as well as the Everglades, are made entirely upon
coral foundation.”
“That is very interesting,” said the boy named Billy. “But if
there is so much of it why is it so expensive?”
“There’s only one kind that is precious,” said Somebody. “That
is the _corallium rubrum_ of the Mediterranean Sea. It was once
supposed to be endowed with sacred properties of a mysterious
nature; the Mandarins of China wear coral buttons made from it
as their badge of office. There is also a very rare black coral
which makes its home in the warm water of the Great Australian
Barrier Reef. The Italians are the greatest coral workers, making
a most valuable industry of making jewelry and buttons and other
small articles.
“There’s a lot more to learn about this subject, but that’s all I
am able to tell you just now,” said Somebody.
“Thanks,” said the boy named Billy. “I’ll read up on it.”
[Illustration: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY]