Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-11
CORAL ISLANDS.
Fifteen Months In the Cocos- Keeling
AtolI.

Fifteen Months In the coeos- Keeling
Atoll.
| A book has appeared that Is re-
markable both for it's human and
scientific interest, fresh with the magic
and mystery of the sea and that
southern Main which Stevenson loved.
1t is called Coral and Atolls," and
its author is Frederick Wood Jones.
months in the Cocos-Keeling Atoll.
used to the best purpose and told In
fashion that Stevenson himself might
have envied for its drectness. its
haunting suggestion Of beauty and its
spirit of romance.
| The Cocos Atoll-the latter word
means a ring-shaped island or series
of islets Of coral enclosing a lagoon.
1t lies far from the track Of civilized
man in the swirling seas of the south
ern Indian Ocean, 700 miles southwest
of Java. 1t is under British protec-
ton. Here 1t was that Darwin studied
the formation of the coral reefs more
than seventy years ago and evolved
a theory Of their origin which Mr..
Wood Jones has now demolished.
Here 1t is that Scottish family has
held sway for three generations rul-
ing after the masterful fashion of Att
water in "The Ebbtide" but with more
Of human kindness. The first Of the
dynasty. John Clunies Ross. made the
island his home in 1927 and was here
in Darwin's day. The second Of the
house. his son, took up the rule in
1854. and was succeeded by his son.
George Clunies Ross, the present ruler.
at the age Of 80. in 1S71-a man pre-
eminent in courage, capacity and ten
derness. His island is a veritable
Utopia.
Coined money is still unknown. fors
the parchment notes of George Ross
are the sole medium Of exchange;
crime hardly exists and without police
or military perfect order prevails.
And now to this romantic ruler and
this enchanted land-where the rats
climb trees and nibble the cocoanuts,
where the giant land crab scuttles to
and fro brandishing claws Of such for
midable character that it can nip
through wire netting as easily as can
a man with cutting pliers can tear up
tin with ease and break with its
great pincers the wooden bars Of a
cage that would serve to imprison a
large wild anImar'-enters a young
doctor of brilliant attainments in the
person Of Mr.. Wood-Jones.
| AS the result Of some happy i'm
pulse or the large instinct Of adventure
he quilted work in London to act as
medical officer to the Eastern Exten-
sion Telegraph company, who main
tanned a handful Of men engaged in
operating the ocean cable Of the most
northern Of the Keeling islets. And
as his medical duties left him leisure
with the patient devotion Of the scien-
tific man he applied his energy to the
study of the atoll.
| L examined. he says, every portion
of the atoll, because familiar with its
| living creatures and made every en-
deavor to appreciate the life processes
of those most misunderstood of archi-
tects-the reef building corals. Most
Of my days were passed in wading
about the barrier flats, sailing or pad
ding a boat in the lagoon or making
excursions to the other islands Of the
| atoll ring.
The result is this fascinating book,
which solves a problem long the field
of controversy: How atolls originate,
how the coral builders work and why
the atolls are circular in shape and en-
close within their embankment these
exquisite lagoons.
The coral organism cannot do its
work at great depths Of the sea nor can
it grow exposed above the surface Of
thu water. To meet these facts Dar-
win devised his hypothesis of subsi-
dence. He supposed that every atoll
had cnce been an island above the
water, fringed round by reef Of coral.
Then the island slowly subsided, while
the coral continued growing. Thus by
degrees the centre Of the island, the
firm land, would disappear beneath
the sea, while the coral ring round it
would remain, raised above sea level
by debris of all kinds, encircling a Ia
goon. 1t seemed an excellent theory
| till various observers, the last Of whom
is Mr.. Wood-Jones, noted that there
was no proof whatever that the Keel
| ing Atoll was subsiding and that far
from the lagoon slowly deepening, as
Darwins theory required, 1t was slow
| ly growing shallower.
The next theory assumed that the
coral began to grow from the tops or
submerged banks or mountains and
| that 1t grew more vigorously on the
outward side of the reef, and grad
ually died on the inner side and centre
of the reef. The centre Of the reef was
then carried away in solution by the
| an1 fhnC tha 1a0nnn formal.
Again this theory required the lagoons
to deepen, and we have seen that they
are shoaling, and there Is no proof
whatever of the fancied solution"
which ought, If it takes place at all,
to dissolve the sand that gathers In
the lagoons and the banks on which
they are formed.
Mr. Wood-Jones's theory differs
from these. 1t is based on the fact
that the sediment and sand choke and
kill the coral builders. The coral
cannot grow at great depths of sea
where this sediment collects with no
| force to remove it. 1t starts growing
where the bottom is stirred by the
waves and currents and where sedi-
ment when it falls on the coral does
not remain undisturbed. 1t works
steadily up to the surface and grows
best in wave stirred areas.
WneH the lISl pdlCh VI icSi HOS
reached the surface Of the water
masses of coral are broken off and
piled on the windward side of the reef
by storms and by the action Of the
waves. A bank thus forms. The
waves striking that bank will pour as
currents to either side Of 1t, carry
ing with them debris, which they
gradually deposit so that the bank
slowly takes a horseshoe form, the
crescent of the horseshoe pointing
away from the prevailing wind. A
ring will thus develop, of certain
limited size. growing more slowly on
the leeward than on the windward
side.
In time the islets composing the
ring will draw together, reaching out
to one another and tending to form a
circle of dry land about the lagoon.
Thus the shape of the atoll and the
existence of the lagoon are satisfac-
torily explained. Where there is no
rest for sediment coral will grow;
where the sediment lies as in the la
COON, it chokes and dies, and the la
pnon iS slowly Silte6 I'm bv sand car