Christmas Island—a great rock in the Indian Ocean—which we have
annexed during the last ten days, cannot very well be reckoned as a new jewel set in the Crown of England, be its strategic uses never so important. The island consists largely of coral, covering a volcanic core ; but long exposure to winds and waves has _so honeycombed it all over, that locomotion is almost impossible. This, however, will not deter the intending settler half so much as the fact that the rock swarms with huge land crabs of a "bluish-yellow colour, with large claws and outatarting eyes most offensive to look at." Mr. Rider Haggard has described the horrible spectacle presented by these crabs in "Allan Quatermain." An even more gruesome account of these appalling creatures—met with in another island— is to be found in "The Cruise of the 'Falcon,'" by Mr. Knight. He tells us how, attracted by the smell of the fish he and his companions were cooking, the great staring-eyed yellow crabs came slowly trooping down in thousands upon his encamp. ment, and how, when pieces of meat were thrown to them, they eat them silently and persistently, using their claws like forks, but staring all the time with hideous protruding eyes straight out at the strangers who had invaded their home. Unless Mr..Knight's description does these yellow land-crabs a cruel injustice, Christmas Island demands a body of knighteerrants who shall at once free England from the disgrace of owning such a nest of monsters.
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