By the help of our 21kedge anchors we got her off, and finding a good berth, anchored. Then we tore off the 22 forehatch, hoisted out many barrels of sugar, and piled them up on the after-deck. After calking the leak, the captain was very anxious to learn whether any damage had been done when the vessel struck. Some of the cocoanut gatherers, who had come from the islands in whale-boats, to ask for canvas, rope, salt beef, and rum, professed to be great divers; but none of them would go down without excessive 23remuneration, as they pretended that the danger from sharks was great. The captain had argued with them for some time, when the mate said, "This asking for extra pay on account of sharks is a downright 24imposition; any of the boys aboard this ship will swim and dive all round her for nothing." "Well," said the professed diver, "let them go down and report whether her bottom is all right.”

"I think we'll do so," said the mate to the captain ; "they may not be able to see all that these fellows could see, but they can tell whether there is much copper off."

Word was passed for the boys, and we went aft. English ships carry apprentices, and there were five of us on board apprenticed to the owners, a great firm in Liverpool, whose vessels traded to the East and West Indies, Australia, South America, the Southern States, the west coast of Africa, and China. The mate asked us whether we were afraid to dive under the ship; to which we replied, "Not a bit."

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Then," said he, "you, George and Charley, go over the bows, and let us know whether you can see much copper rubbed off on either side of the keel.” While preparing to do so the professed diver said, "Plenty of big sharks about here, boys!"

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"We know it," said I; we have seen them under the stern."

We took a good plunge together, and got down to the keel, but the current carried us aft. So up we came, and asked for a rope to be swept under her, so that we might go down it hand over hand. While this was getting ready, the diver said, "The sharks are not in a biting humour, I see," and making a hasty bargain with the captain, he went down two or three times with our rope. He could certainly remain under water much longer than we could, but I doubt if he did any more than just get under the 25 bilge, out of sight, and stay there, splashing with one hand and both feet, until it was time to come up again. He reported the ship's 26 forefoot torn off, but no damage whatever done to the hull. He ought to have been severely punished for that report. All the way home (and we were above a hundred days going from the Cocos) the ship leaked, and pumps had to be kept going nearly all the time.

4

3

1 emergency, sudden occasion; unforeseen occurrence; pressing necessity. 2 Arabia, a country in West Asia. Tartary, a country in Central Asia. navigation, the art which relates to the direction or management of ships in sailing from place to place. Here it means simply, sailing.

6

5 shoals, sand banks.

Savanilla, a port in Magdalena, New Granada, South America.

17

1 bamboo, a plant of the family of grasses, growing in tropical countries. 8 lagoon, a shallow pond or lake, especially one into which the sea flows at high tide. 9logwood, the heart wood of a tree found in South America. It is a red heavy wood containing a crystalline substance used largely in red dyes. 10 intercepted, stopped on its course. 11 counter (nautical), an arched space in the stern of a vessel. 12 Java, one of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, lying off the south-east coast of Asia. 13 Rotterdam, one of the seaports of Holland, situated on the Maas, about twenty miles from its mouth. (See App.) "Leyden, a celebrated city of learning in Holland, situated on the Old Rhine, twenty-two miles south-west of Amsterdam. (See App.) 15 calked (pronounced kawked), having the crevices filled up with oakum. 16 Malays, natives of the Malay States, South Asia. turtle, a reptile of the tortoise kind. It is covered by a complete suit of bony armour, and has four fins or flippers with which it swims. (See p. 62.) 18 twenty-fathom. A fathom is six feet-twenty-fathoms are 120 feet. 19 tempered, moderated; made cooler and therefore more comfortable. 20 chart, map, especially a marine or sea-map expressly prepared for sailors. 21 kedge-anchors, small anchors used to keep the ship steady in harbour, and for other purposes where larger anchors would be unmanageable. 22 forehatch (nautical), the opening in a ship's deck; the hatchway. 23 remuneration, payment; compensation. imposition, cheat; fraud; imposture. bilge, the breadth of a ship's bottom, that part on which she would rest if placed on the ground. 26 fore-foot (nautical), a piece of timber which terminates the keel at the fore-end.

25

24

as-cer-tained' de-po-si'-tion se-cre'-tion pol'-y-pes CORAL ISLANDS exist most abundantly in the tropical parts of the Pacific Ocean. The formation of coral goes on, in favourable circumstances, with wonderful rapidity, for masses of coral have been found to increase in height several feet in

a few months; and a channel cut in the reef surrounding a coral island to permit the passage of a schooner, has been choked up with coral in ten years.

It was at one time supposed that the coral 'polypes began their labours at the bottom of the ocean, and reared their pile from its greatest depths; but it has been ascertained that none of them live at

depths of more than twenty or thirty fathoms, and most of them are inhabitants of much shallower water. It appears, therefore, that their marvellous structures must be on rocks that do not reach the surface-probably in most cases volcanic rocks, similar to those which, being further upheaved, form many of the islands of "Polynesia.

When a reef has reached the surface of the

water, sand, shells, fragments of coral and other substances, begin to accumulate, and cocoa-nut trees often grow where the waves still wash their roots. Further accumulations from the ocean, with decayed leaves, stems, etc., gradually convert the reef into fertile land.

The coral is a calcareous secretion or deposit of many kinds of zoophytes, which assumes very various and often beautiful forms. The coral-producing zoophytes are compound animals, which increase by gemmation, young polyp buds springing from the original polyp, and not separating from it, but remaining in the same spot, even when the original or parent polyp has ceased to exist. Thus layers of coral are formed assuming various shapes. The structure sometimes branches like a shrub, spreads like a fan, or assumes the form of a cup, a flower, or a mushroom.

Corals chiefly abound in the seas of the warmer latitudes, where they form extensive banks at no very great depth, and their various and bright colours present the appearance of submarine flowergardens. The common red coral of commerce is chiefly obtained from the Mediterranean, in some parts of which extensive coral fisheries are carried on. It is brought up by means of a sort of grappling apparatus dragged after a boat. Red coral is much admired for its fine colour; it is "susceptible of a high polish, and is much used for ornamental purposes. Much of the red coral of

the Mediterranean is sent to India.