So far, what Mr. Agassiz says of them; now let us try and look at them ourselves. In the hot, summer months, when the waters are bringing forth the moving creature that has life, millions of diminutive, jelly-like spawn are thrown out by the parent animal. For a while, they enjoy their freedom, and seem to luxuriate in the exercise of their powers of locomotion, which they are never hereafter to recover; but soon they become weary, and settle down upon some firm, stationary body. At once they begin to change their form; they become star-like, the mouth being surrounded by tentacles, very much as the center of a flower is surrounded by its leaves. After some time, each one of these ray-like parts pushes out extensions, which in their turn assume the shape of tiny stars, and establish their own existence by means of an independent mouth. In the meanwhile, lime has been deposited at the base of the little animal, by its own unceasing activity, and forms a close-fitting foot, which adheres firmly to the rock. Upon this slender foundation arises another layer, and thus by incessant labor, story upon story, until at last a tree has grown up with branches spreading in all directions. But where the plants of the upper world bear leaves and flowers, there buds forth here, from the hard stone, a living, sensitive animal, moving at will, and clad in the gay form and bright colors of a flower.
This flower is the animal itself, seen only in its native element, and unfit for air and light. What we call coral is its house, outside of which it prefers to live, rather than within.
How they build their dwelling, human eye has never seen. We only know that the tiny animals, by some mysterious power, absorb without ceasing the almost imperceptible particles of lime which are contained in all salt-water, and deposit them, one by one, in the interior. This is done, now more, now less actively; and the denser the deposit is, the more valuable the coral. Gradually this substance hardens and thickens, until, in the precious coral, the Isis Nobiles of science, a large tree is formed, which often reaches the size of a man’s waist. It is perfectly solid and compact, and adorned on the surface with delicate parallel lines. Thus, on the tree-shaped limestone, grows the life-endowed body of the polypus; it moves, it feeds, it produces others, and then is turned again into stone, burying itself in its own rocky house, whilst on its grave new generations build unceasingly new abodes.
This is the so-called blood-coral, the favorite of antiquity, and the fashion of our day—next to the pearl, the most precious jewel of the deep.
It is not easy to obtain a piece of living coral, for the purpose of studying its wondrous structure, and admiring its exceeding beauty. The great depth at which the mysterious little animals dwell in the ocean, secures them against the mere amateur fisherman; and the professional coral-fisher in the Mediterranean, the son of superstitious races of Southern Italy, is even extremely reluctant to admit outsiders into the secrets of his trade. However, they seem only to seek very superficially. As a proof of this assertion, we cite the following example:
The United States Steamer Gettysburg, while on her way from Fayal to Gibraltar, recently made a discovery of considerable importance, in the shape of an immense coral bank (hitherto totally unknown), in latitude 36° 30´, longitude 11° 28´. Partial surveys were made, and the least depth of water noted was one hundred and eighty feet, which, in mid-ocean, is very significant. Twenty miles west of the bank, the sounding line marks sixteen thousand five hundred feet, and between the bank and Cape St. Vincent, twelve thousand feet. The commander of the Gettysburg believes that in some portions the coral rises to the surface. How such a reef, in a part of the ocean which is constantly traversed by vessels, can have remained undiscovered is almost inexplicable. It is also stated that the bank is rich in valuable coral of light pink shades of color.
CORAL FISHING.
The coral fishing is done in this way: a large net is fastened by a stout rope to the stern of the vessel. At the end of this rope hangs first an iron cross, consisting of two hollow tubes, laid cross-wise, through which strong ash poles have been thrust, and to this are fastened a number of old sardine-nets, no longer fit for their first purpose, and countless ends and bits of wide-meshed pieces of rope, as thick as a finger—the whole apparatus a mass of rags and rotten network. But the more such wretched-looking pieces of network the fisher can fasten to his iron cross, the better are his chances. When the sea is perfectly quiet, he lets them sink down to a depth of sixty or even a hundred fathoms, where they slowly spread and unfold themselves over a vast extent. Now the vessel proceeds slowly on in the manner of our trolling, and as soon as the skilled hand of the fisher observes that the rope pulls, and consequently something is fastened to the net, he pulls it slowly up, and the treasure, if any there is, is heaved on board with great care, and now comes the task of picking out the precious treasure from the meshes of the network, and to loosen them from the fragments of stone on which they are growing.
HOW TO EXAMINE THE CORAL.
The only way to examine the living animal is to seize the little fragment of rock, or the shell to which the mysterious creature is fastened, at the very moment that it appears near the surface, and to dip it, if possible, without exposing it to the air, immediately into a vessel with salt-water, which you hold ready for the purpose. At first, there is nothing to be seen but a vague, indistinct mass of grayish substance. You suspend the animal and its tiny abode by a string in the middle of the glass globe, and carry it to a dark place; for the coral will not display its beautiful form and colors in the gleaming light of the day. It takes hours, often, before the obstinate little creature condescends to give a sign of life.