On our return to Messrs. Brander’s office, where we had left one of our letters of introduction, we found the manager, with whom we had a long chat before returning on board.

[Illustration:  Chaetodon Tricolor.]

At 5 p.m. we went for a row in the ‘Glance’ and the ‘Flash’ to the coral reef, now illumined by the rays of the setting sun.  Who can describe these wonderful gardens of the deep, on which we now gazed through ten and twenty fathoms of crystal water?  Who can enumerate or describe the strange creatures moving about and darting hither and thither, amid the masses of coral forming their submarine home?  There were shells of rare shape, brighter than if they had been polished by the hand of the most skilful artist; crabs of all sizes, scuttling and sidling along; sea-anemones, spreading their delicate feelers in search of prey; and many other kinds of zoophytes, crawling slowly over the reef; and scarlet, blue, yellow, gold, violet, spotted, striped, and winged fish, short, long, pointed, and blunt, of the most varied shapes, were darting about like birds among the coral trees.

At last, after frequent stoppages, to allow time for admiration, we reached the outer reef, hauled the boat up and made her fast, and, in bathing shoes, started on a paddling expedition.  Such a paddle it was, too, over the coral, the surf breaking far above our heads, and the underflow, though only a few inches deep, nearly carrying me and the children off our legs!  There were one or two native fishermen walking along the reef, whipping the water; but they appeared to have caught only a few small rock-fish, pretty enough to look at, but not apparently good to eat.

The shades of night compelled us to return to the yacht, laden with corals of many different species.  After dinner the bay was illuminated by the torches of the native fishermen, in canoes, on the reef.  Tom and I went to look at them, but did not see them catch anything.  Each canoe contained at least three people, one of whom propelled the boat, another stood up waving about a torch dipped in some resinous substance, which threw a strong light on the water, while the third stood in the bows, armed with a spear, made of a bundle of wires, tied to a long pole, not at all unlike a gigantic egg-whip, with all its loops cut into points.  This is aimed with great dexterity at the fish, who are either transfixed or jammed between the prongs.  The fine figures of the natives, lighted up by the flickering torches, and standing out in bold relief against the dark blue starlit sky, would have served as models for the sculptors of ancient Greece.