Swiss Family Robinson

stems and branches like a shrub, and I believe tiny insects inhabit the cells, do they not, father?'
    `You are right, Fritz; coral consists of the calcereous cells of minute animals, so built up as to form a tree-like structure.
    `The coral fishery gives employment to many men in the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea , and other places. The instrument commonly used consists of two heavy beams of wood, secured together at right angles, and loaded with stones. Hemp and netting are attached to the under side of the beams, to the middle of which is fastened one end of a strong rope, by which the apparatus is let down from a boat, and guided to the spots where the coral is most abundant.
    `The branches of the coral become entangled in the hemp and network; they are broken off from the rock, and are drawn to the surface of the water.
    `Left undisturbed, these coral insects, labouring incessantly, raise foundations, on which, in course of time, fertile islands appear, clothed with verdure, and inhabited by man.'
    `Why father, here we are at the landing-place!' exclaimed Jack.
    `It has seemed quite easy to pull since you began to tell us such interesting things.'
    `Very interesting, indeed; but did you notice that the wind had changed, Jack?' remarked Ernest as he shipped his oar.
    The animated recital of our adventures, the sight of the lovely shells and corals, and the proposed work for the afternoon, inspired my wife and Franz with a great wish to accompany us.
    To this I gladly consented, only stipulating that we should go provided with food, water and a compass. `For,' said I, `the sea has only just ceased from its raging, and being at the best of times of uncertain and capricious nature, we may chance to be detained on the island, or forced to land at a considerable distance from home.'
    Dinner was quickly dispatched, and preparations set on foot. The more oil we could obtain the better, for a great deal was used in the large lantern which burnt day and night in the recesses of the cave; therefore all available casks and barrels were pressed into the service; many, of course, once full of pickled herrings, potted pigeons and other winter stores, were now empty, and we took a goodly fleet of these in tow.
    Knives, hatchets, and the boys' climbing buskins, were put on board, and we set forth, the labour of the oar being greater than ever, now that our freight was so much increased.
    The sea being calm, and the tide suiting better, we found it easy to land close to the whale; my first care was to place the boat, as well as the casks, in perfect security, after which we proceeded to a close inspection of our prize.
    Its enormous size quite startled my wife and little boy; the length being from sixty to sixty-five feet, and the girth between thirty and forty, while the weight could not have been less than 50,000 lbs.
    The color was a uniform velvety black, and the enormous head about one-third of the length of the entire hulk, the eyes quite small, not much larger than those of an ox, and the ears almost undiscernable .
    The jaw opened very far back, and was nearly sixteen feet in length, the most curious part of its structure being the remarkable substance known as whalebone, masses of which appeared all along the jaws, solid at the base, and splitting into a sort of fringe at the extremity. This arrangement is for the purpose of aiding the whale in procuring its food, and separating it from the water.
    The tongue was remarkably large, soft, and full of oil; the opening of the throat wonderfully small, scarcely two inches in diameter.
    `Why, what can the monster eat?' exclaimed Fritz; `he can never swallow a proper mouthful down this little gullet!'
    `The mode of feeding adopted by the whale is so curious,' I replied, `that I must explain it to you before we begin work.
    `This animal (for I should tell you that a whale is not a fish; he possess no gills, he breathes atmospheric air, and would be drowned if too long detained below the surface of the water); this animal, then, frequents those parts of the ocean best supplied with the various creatures on which he feeds. Shrimps, small fish, lobsters, various molluscs , and medusae form his diet.
    `Driving with open mouth through the congregated shoals of these little creatures, the whale engulfs them by millions in his enormous jaws, and continues his destructive course until he has sufficiently charged his mouth with prey.
    `Closing his jaws and forcing out, through the