CHARTER XIII



SOME MARINE NOVELTIES


"And call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the sea."

MILTON.

During the cool season the tides on the coast of North Queensland offer
peculiar facilities to the observer of the thousand and one marvels of
the tropic sea. Spring tides throughout the warm months range low at
night and high during the day. In other words, the lowest day
spring-tide in winter exposes far more of the reefs than the lowest day
tide of summer, while the highest night tide of summer sweeps away the
data of the corresponding tide of winter. When, therefore, the far
receding water makes available patches of coral reef exposed at other
times of the year merely to the cool glimpses of the moon, I am driven to
explore them with an eagerness, if not of a treasure-seeker or in the
frenzies of naturalistic fervour, at least with the enthusiasm of an
ardent student.

It may be that most of the sights which are revealed are of common
knowledge among scientific men, and if one is inclined to preach a
little sermon on the text of the living stones and polyps and animated