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