On rising from breakfast we found, near the tent, about a dozen natives, who, in most respects, resembled our friends at Napakiang, but were not so neatly dressed; and their hair, instead of being formed into a knot, was allowed to fly loose. During the morning the party amused themselves in various ways. Some took their guns and went in search of curlews and sea-snipes: others set out to explore the reefs; and two or three remained near the tent, for the purpose of making observations on the sun at noon; but as it became cloudy about this time, the latter party failed in their object. The rest were more successful; the sportsmen having shot some game for dinner; and the other party having found all things favourable for inspecting the reef. The examination of a coral reef during the different stages of one tide, is particularly interesting. When the tide has left it for some time it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and ragged; but as the tide rises, and the waves begin to wash over it, the coral worms protrude themselves from holes which were before invisible. These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in motion. The most common worm is in the form of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, which are moved about with a rapid motion in all directions, probably to catch food. Others are so sluggish, that they may be mistaken for pieces of the rock, and are generally of a dark colour, and from four to five inches long, and two or three round. When the coral is broken, about high water mark, it is a solid hard stone, but if any part of it be detached at a spot which the tide reaches every day, it is found to be full of worms of different lengths and colours, some being as fine as a thread and several feet long, of a bright yellow, and sometimes of a blue colour: others resemble snails, and some are not unlike lobsters in shape, but soft, and not above two inches long[10].