Colin thought for a moment, then said in a surprised voice:
"Why, yes. Bermuda is an isolated point, isn't it? I hadn't thought of that before. Nearly all islands are in chains, but this little bit of a place is set off all by itself. I wonder why that is?"
"Bermuda is the top of a submarine mountain," was the reply, "perhaps part of the lost Atlantis—who knows? This stupendous peak rises almost fifteen thousand feet sheer from the
ocean bed and its rugged top forms the basis of the islands. Think what a magnificent sight it would be if we could see its whole height rising from the darkness of the ocean deep."
The Early Bird Passing the Bermuda Aquarium, Agar's Island.
Photograph by C. R-W.
"But I thought Bermuda was a coral island!"
"The coral polyp has got to grow on something, hasn't it?" the scientist reminded him. "Don't forget that the little creatures can't live in deep water. And, you see, Bermuda has gradually been sinking, the coral builders keeping pace with the subsidence, so that although the island is only two miles across at the widest point the reefs are ten miles wide."