[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

34 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

wading in the warm water to observe the multiform
animal life of the reef. There was the “béche-de~
mer,” the sea-cucumber, yellow or purplish—black, a
shapeless mass lying in pools; this is a delicacy
highly valued by the Chinese and therefore a frequent
article of exportation. The animals are collected, cut
open, dried and shipped. There was the ugly
muraena, which goes splashing and winding like a
snake between boulders, and threatens the intruder
with poisonous looks and snapping jaws. Innumer-
able bright-coloured fish shot hither and thither in
the flat pools, there were worms, sea-stars, octopus,
crabs. The wealth of animal life on the reef, Where
each footstep stirs up a hundred creatures, is incredible,
and ever so many more are hidden in the rocks and
crevices.

The plants that had taken root in the coral were
mostly mangrove bushes with great forked roots.