, * so that the prevailing movements now in progress, seem to accord with the actual states of surface of the great divisions of the world. the blue spaces on the map are nearly all elongated ; but it does not necessarily follow from this, ( a caution, for which i am indebted to mr. lyell, ) that the areas of subsidence were likewise elongated ; for the subsidence of a long, narrow, space of the bed of the ocean, including in it a transverse chain of mountains, surmounted by atolls, would only be marked on the map by a transverse blue band. but where a chain of atolls and barrier - reefs lies in an elongated area, between spaces coloured red, which therefore have re - * i suspect that the arru and timor - laut islands present an included small area of subsidence, like that of the china sea ; but i have not ventured to colour them from my imperfect information, as given in the appendix. mained stationary or have been upraised, this must have resulted either from the area of subsidence having originally been elongated ( owing to some tendency in the earth ' s crust thus to subside ), or from the subsiding area having originally been of an irregular figure, or as broad as long, and having since been narrowed by the elevation of neighbouring districts. thus the areas, which subsided during the formation of the great north and south line of atolls in the indian ocean, — of the east and west line of the caroline atolls, — and of the north - west and south - east line of the barrier - reefs of new caledonia and the louisiade, must have originally been elongated, or if not so, they must have since been made elongated by elevations, which we know to belong to a recent period. i infer from mr. hopkins ' s researches, * that for the formation of a long chain of mountains, with few lateral spurs, an area elongated in the same direction with the chain, must have been subjected to an elevatory movement. mountain - chains, however, when already formed, although running in very different directions, it seems, † may be raised together by a widely - acting force : so, perhaps, mountain - chains may subside together. hence, we cannot tell whether the caroline and marshall archipelagoes, two groups of atolls running in different directions and meeting each other, have been formed by the subsidence of two areas, or of one large * researches in physical geology


together. hence, we cannot tell whether the caroline and marshall archipelagoes, two groups of atolls running in different directions and meeting each other, have been formed by the subsidence of two areas, or of one large * researches in physical geology, transact. cambridge phil. soc. vol. vi. part i. † for instance in s. america from lat. 34° for many degrees southward there are upraised beds containing recent species of shells, on both the atlantic and pacific side of the continent, and from the gradual ascent of the land, although with very unequal slopes, on both sides towards the cordillera, i think it can hardly be doubted that the entire width has been upraised in mass within the recent period. in this case the two w. n. w. and e. s. e. mountain - lines, namely the sierra ventana and the s. tapalguen, and the great north and south line of the cordillera have been together raised. in the west indies the n. and s. line of the eastern antilles, and the e. and w. line of jamaica, appear both to have been upraised within the latest geological period. area, including two distinct lines of mountains. we have, however, in the southern prolongation of the mariana islands, probable evidence of a line of recent elevation having intersected one of recent subsidence. a view of the map will show that, generally, there is a tendency to alternation in the parallel areas undergoing opposite kinds of movement ; as if the sinking of one area balanced the rising of another. the existence in many parts of the world of high table - land, proves that large surfaces have been upraised in mass to considerable heights above the level of the ocean ; although the highest points in almost every country consist of upturned strata, or erupted matter : and from the immense spaces scattered with atolls, which indicate that land originally existed there, although not one pinnacle now remains above the level of the sea, we may conclude that wide areas have subsided to an amount, sufficient to bury not only any formerly existing table - land, but even the heights formed by fractured strata, and erupted matter. the effects produced on the land by the later elevatory movements, namely, successively rising cliffs, lines of erosion, and beds of littoral shells and pebbles, all requiring time for their production, prove that these movements have been very slow ; we can, however, infer this with


later elevatory movements, namely, successively rising cliffs, lines of erosion, and beds of littoral shells and pebbles, all requiring time for their production, prove that these movements have been very slow ; we can, however, infer this with safety, only with respect to the few last hundred feet of rise. but with reference to the whole vast amount of subsidence, necessary to have produced the many atolls widely scattered over immense spaces, it has already been shown ( and it is, perhaps, the most interesting conclusion in this volume ), that the movements must either have been uniform and exceedingly slow, or have been effected by small steps, separated from each other by long intervals of time, during which the reef - constructing polypifers were able to bring up their solid frame - works to the surface. we have little means of judging whether many considerable oscillations of level have generally occurred during the elevation of large tracts : but we know, from clear geological evidence, that this has frequently taken place ; and we have seen on our map, that some of the same islands have both subsided and been upraised. i conclude, however, that most of the large blue spaces have subsided without many and great elevatory oscillations, because only a few upraised atolls have been observed : the supposition that such elevations have taken place, but that the upraised parts have been worn down by the surf, and thus have escaped observation, is overruled by the very considerable depth of the lagoons of all the larger atolls ; for this could not have been the case, if they had suffered repeated elevations and abrasion. from the comparative observations made in these latter pages, we may finally conclude, that the subterranean changes which have caused some large areas to rise, and others to subside, have acted in a very similar manner. recapitulation. — in the three first chapters, the principal kinds of coral - reefs were described in detail, and they were found to differ little, as far as relates to the actual surface of the reef. an atoll differs from an encircling barrier - reef only in the absence of land within its central expanse ; and a barrier - reef differs from a fringing - reef, in being placed at a much greater distance from the land with reference to the probable inclination of its submarine foundation, and in the presence of a deep - water lagoon - like space or moat within the reef. in the fourth chapter the growing powers of


, in being placed at a much greater distance from the land with reference to the probable inclination of its submarine foundation, and in the presence of a deep - water lagoon - like space or moat within the reef. in the fourth chapter the growing powers of the reef - constructing polypifers were discussed ; and it was shown, that they cannot flourish beneath a very limited depth. in accordance with this limit, there is no difficulty respecting the foundations, on which fringing - reefs are based ; whereas, with barrier - reefs and atolls, there is a great apparent difficulty on this head ; — in barrier - reefs from the improbability of the rock of the coast or of banks of sediment extending, in every instance, so far seaward within the required depth ; — and in atolls, from the immensity of the spaces over which they are interspersed, and the apparent necessity for believing that they are all supported on mountain - summits, which, although rising very near to the surface - level of the sea, in no one instance emerge above it. to escape this latter most improbable admission, which implies the existence of submarine chains of mountains of almost the same height, extending over areas of many thousand square miles, there is but one alternative ; namely, the prolonged subsidence of the foundations, on which the atolls were primarily based, together with the upward growth of the reef - constructing corals. on this view every difficulty vanishes : fringing - reefs are thus converted into barrier - reefs ; and barrier - reefs, when encircling islands, are thus converted into atolls, the instant the last pinnacle of land sinks beneath the surface of the ocean. thus the ordinary forms and certain peculiarities in the structure of atolls and barrier - reefs can be explained ; — namely, the wall - like structure on their inner sides — the bason or ring - like shape both of the marginal and central reefs in the maldiva atolls — the union of some atolls as if by a ribbon — the apparent disseverment of others — and the occurrence, in atolls as well as in barrier - reefs, of portions of reef, and of the whole of some reefs, in a dead and submerged state, but retaining the outline of living reefs. thus can be explained the existence of breaches through barrier - reefs in front of valleys, though separated from them by a wide space of deep water ; thus, also, the ordinary outline of groups of atolls, and the relative forms


living reefs. thus can be explained the existence of breaches through barrier - reefs in front of valleys, though separated from them by a wide space of deep water ; thus, also, the ordinary outline of groups of atolls, and the relative forms of the separate atolls one to another ; thus can be explained the proximity of the two kinds of reefs formed during subsidence, and their separation from the spaces where fringing - reefs abound. on searching for other evidence of the movements supposed by our theory, we find marks of change in atolls and in barrier - reefs, and of subterranean disturbances under them ; but from the nature of things, it is scarcely possible to detect any direct proofs of subsidence, although some appearances are strongly in favour of it. on the fringed coasts, however, the presence of upraised marine bodies of a recent epoch, plainly show, that these coasts, instead of having remained stationary, which is all that can be directly inferred from our theory, have generally been elevated. finally, when the two great types of structure, namely barrier - reefs and atolls on the one hand, and fringing - reefs on the other, were laid down in colours on our map, a magnificent and harmonious picture of the movements, which the crust of the earth has within a late period undergone, is presented to us. we there see vast areas rising, with volcanic matter every now and then bursting forth through the vents or fissures with which they are traversed. we see other wide spaces slowly sinking without any volcanic outbursts ; and we may feel sure, that this sinking must have been immense in amount as well as in area, thus to have buried over the broad face of the ocean every one of those mountains, above which atolls now stand like monuments, marking the place of their former existence. reflecting how powerful an agent with respect to denudation, and consequently to the nature and thickness of the deposits in accumulation, the sea must ever be, when acting for prolonged periods on the land, during either its slow emergence or subsidence ; reflecting, also, on the final effects of these movements in the interchange of land and ocean - water, on the climate of the earth, and on the distribution of organic beings, i may be permitted to hope, that the conclusions derived from the study of coral - formations, originally attempted merely to explain their peculiar forms, may be thought worthy of the attention of geologists. a detailed description of the reefs and islands in the coloured map


may be permitted to hope, that the conclusions derived from the study of coral - formations, originally attempted merely to explain their peculiar forms, may be thought worthy of the attention of geologists. a detailed description of the reefs and islands in the coloured map, plate iii. in the beginning of the last chapter i stated the principles on which the map is coloured. there only remains to be said, that it is an exact copy of one by m. c. gressier, published by the depot general de la marine, in 1835. the names have been altered into english, and the longitude has been reduced to that of greenwich. the colours were first laid down on accurate charts, on a large scale. the data, on which the volcanos historically known to have been in action, have been marked with vermilion, were given in a note to the last chapter. i will commence my description on the eastern side of the map, and will describe each group of islands consecutively, proceeding westward across the pacific and indian oceans, but ending with the west indies. the western shores of america appear to be entirely without coral reefs : south of the equator the survey of the beagle, and north of it, the published charts show that this is the case. even in the bay of panama, where corals flourish, there are no true coral reefs, as i have been informed by mr. lloyd. there are no coral - reefs in the galapagos archipelago, as i know from personal inspection ; and i believe there are none on the cocos, revilla - gigedo, and other neighbouring islands. clipperton rock, 10° n. 109° w., has lately been surveyed by capt. belcher ; in form it is like the crater of a volcano. from a drawing appended to the ms. plan in the admiralty, it evidently is not an atoll. the eastern parts of the pacific present an enormous area, without any islands, except easter, and sala, and gomez islands, which do not appear to be surrounded by reefs. the low archipelago. — this group consists of about 80 atolls : it would be quite superfluous to refer to descriptions of each. in d ' urville and lottin ' s chart, one island ( wolchonsky ) is written with a capital letter, signifying, as explained in a former chapter, that it is a high island ; but this must be a mistake, as the original chart by bellinghausen shows that it is a true atoll.


already described in a note ( p. 139 ), on the authority of mr. couthouy : it is an upraised atoll, but as it does not appear to be fringed by living reefs, it is left uncoloured. the society arch. is separated by a narrow space from the low arch. ; and in their parallel direction they manifest some relation to each other. i have already described the general character of the reefs of these fine encircled islands. in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage there is a good general chart of the group, and separate plans of some of the islands. tahiti the largest island in the group is almost surrounded, as seen in cook ' s chart, by a reef from a half a mile to a mile and a half from the shore, with from 10 to 30 fathoms within it. some considerable submerged reefs lying parallel to the shore, with a broad and deep space within, have lately been discovered ( naut. mag. 1836, p. 264, ) on the n. e. coast of the island, where none are laid down by cook. at eimeo the reef " which like a ring surrounds it, is in some places one or two miles distant from the shore, in others united to the beach. " ( ellis, polynesian researches, vol. i. p. 18, 12mo. edit. ) cook found deep water ( 20 fathoms ) in some of the harbours within the reef. mr. couthouy, however, states ( remarks, p. 45, ) that both at tahiti and eimeo, the space between the barrier - reef and the shore, has been almost filled up, — " a nearly continuous fringing - reef surrounding the island, and varying from a few yards to rather more than a mile in width, the lagoons merely forming canals between this and the sea - reef, " that is the barrier - reef. tapamanoa is surrounded by a reef at a considerable distance from the shore ; from the island being small, it is breached, as i am informed by the rev. w. ellis, only by a narrow and crooked boat - channel. this is the lowest island in the group, its height probably not exceeding 500 feet. a little way north of tahiti, the low coral islets of teturoa are situated ; from the description of them given me by the rev. j. williams ( the author of the narrative of missionary enterprise ), i should


500 feet. a little way north of tahiti, the low coral islets of teturoa are situated ; from the description of them given me by the rev. j. williams ( the author of the narrative of missionary enterprise ), i should have thought they had formed a small atoll, and likewise from the description given by the rev. d. tyerman and g. bennett ( journ. of voy. and travels, vol. i. p. 183, ) who say that ten low coral islets " are comprehended within one general reef, and separated from each other by interjacent lagoons ; " but as mr. stutchbury ( west of england journal, vol. i. p. 54, ) describes it as consisting of a mere narrow ridge, i have left it uncoloured. maitea, eastward of the group, is classed by forster as a high encircled island ; but from the account given by the rev. d. tyerman and g. bennett ( vol. i. p. 57, ) it appears to be an exceedingly abrupt cone, rising from the sea without any reef ; i have left it uncoloured. it would be superfluous to describe the northern islands in this group, as they may be well seen in the chart accompanying the 4to. edition of cook ' s voyages, and in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage. maurua is the only one of the northern islands, in which the water within the reef is not deep, being only 4½ fathoms ; but the great width of the reef, stretching three miles and a half southward of the land ( which is represented in the drawing in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage as descending abruptly to the water ) shows, on the principle explained in the beginning of the last chapter, that it belongs to the barrier class. i may here mention, from information communicated to me by the rev. w. ellis, that on the n. e. side of huaheine there is a bank of sand, about a quarter of a mile wide, extending parallel to the shore, and separated from it by an extensive and deep lagoon : this bank of sand rests on coral rock, and undoubtedly was originally a living reef. north of bolabola lies the atoll of toubai ( motou - iti of the coquille ' s atlas ), which is coloured dark blue ; the other islands, surrounded by barrier - reefs, are pale blue : three of


north of bolabola lies the atoll of toubai ( motou - iti of the coquille ' s atlas ), which is coloured dark blue ; the other islands, surrounded by barrier - reefs, are pale blue : three of them are represented in figures 3, 4, and 5, in plate i. there are three low coral - groups lying a little e. of the society arch., and almost forming part of it, namely, bellinghausen, which is said by kotzebue ( second voyage, vol. ii. p. 255, ) to be a lagoon - island ; mopeha, which, from cook ' s description ( second voyage, book iii. chap. 1, ) no doubt is an atoll ; and the scilly islands, which are said by wallis ( voyage, chap. ix. ) to form a group of low islets and shoals, and therefore, probably, they compose an atoll : the two former have been coloured blue, but not the latter. mendana or marquesas group. — these islands are entirely without reefs, as may be seen in krusenstern ' s atlas, making a remarkable contrast with the adjacent group of the society ' s islands. mr. f. d. bennett has given some account of this group, in the seventh volume of the geograph. journ. he informs me that all the islands have the same general character, and that the water is very deep close to their shores. he visited three of them, namely, dominicana, christiana, and roapoa ; their beaches are strewed with rounded masses of coral, and although no regular reefs exist, yet the shore is in many places lined by coral - rock, so that a boat grounds on this formation. hence these islands ought probably to come within the class of fringed islands and be coloured red ; but as i am determined to err on the cautious side, i have left them uncoloured. cook or harvey and austral. isl. — palmerston island is minutely described as an atoll by capt. cook during his voyage in 1774 ; coloured blue. aitutaki was partially surveyed by the beagle, ( see map accompanying voyages of adventure and beagle ) ; the land is hilly, sloping gently to the beach ; the highest point is 360 feet ; on the southern side the reef projects five miles from the land : off this point the beagle found no bottom with 270 fathoms : the reef


) ; the land is hilly, sloping gently to the beach ; the highest point is 360 feet ; on the southern side the reef projects five miles from the land : off this point the beagle found no bottom with 270 fathoms : the reef is surmounted by many low coral - islets. although within the reef the water is exceedingly shallow, not being more than a few feet deep, as i am informed by the rev. j. williams ; nevertheless, from the great extension of this reef into a profoundly deep ocean, this island probably belongs, on the principle lately adverted to, to the barrier class, and i have coloured it pale blue ; although with much hesitation. — manouai or harvey isld. the highest point is about 50 feet : the rev. j. williams informs me that the reef here, although it lies far from the shore, is less distant than at aitutaki, but the water within the reef is rather deeper : i have also coloured this pale blue, with many doubts. — round mitiaro isld., as i am informed by mr. williams, the reef is attached to the shore ; coloured red. — mauki, or maouti ; the reef round this isld. ( under the name of parry isld. in the voyage of h. m. s. blonde, p. 209, ) is described as a coral flat, only 50 yards wide, and two feet under water. this statement has been corroborated by mr. williams, who calls the reef attached ; coloured red. — atiu, or wateeo ; a moderately elevated, hilly island, like the others of this group. the reef is described in cook ' s voyage as attached to the shore, and about 100 yards wide ; coloured red. — fenoua - iti ; cook describes this isld. as very low, not more than six or seven feet high, ( vol. i. book ii. chap. iii. 1777 ) ; in the chart published in the coquille ' s atlas, a reef is engraved close to the shore : this isld. is not mentioned in the list given by mr. williams ( p. 16 ) in the narrative missionary enterprise ; nature doubtful. as it is so near atiu, it has been unavoidably coloured red. — rarotonga ; mr. williams informs me it is a lofty basaltic isld., with an attached reef ; coloured red. — there are three islands


is so near atiu, it has been unavoidably coloured red. — rarotonga ; mr. williams informs me it is a lofty basaltic isld., with an attached reef ; coloured red. — there are three islands. rourouti, roxburgh, and hull, of which i have not been able to obtain any account, and have left them uncoloured. hull isld., in the french chart, is written with small letters, as being low. — mangaia ; height about 300 feet ; " the surrounding reef joins the shore, " ( williams ' s narrative, p. 18 ) ; coloured red. — rimetara ; mr. williams informs me that the reef is rather close to the shore ; but, from information given me by mr. ellis, the reef does not appear to be quite so closely attached to it as in the foregoing cases : the isld. is about 300 feet high, ( naut. mag. 1839, p. 738 ) ; coloured red. — rurutu ; mr. williams and mr. ellis inform me that this island has an attached reef ; coloured red. it is described by cook under the name of oheteroa : he says it is not surrounded, like the neighbouring islds., by a reef ; he must have meant a distant reef. — toubouai ; in cook ' s chart, ( 2d voyage, vol. ii. p. 2, ) the reef is laid down in part one mile, and in part two miles from the shore. mr. ellis ( polynes. res. vol. iii. p. 381 ) says the low land round the base of the isld. is very extensive ; and this gentleman informs me that the water within the reef appears deep ; coloured blue. — raivaivai, or vivitao ; mr. williams informs me that the reef is here distant ; mr. ellis, however, says that this is certainly not the case on one side of the isld. ; and he believes that the water within the reef is not deep ; hence i have left it uncoloured. — lancaster reef, described in naut. mag. 1833, ( p. 693, ) as an extensive crescent - formed coral - reef, i have not coloured it. — rapa, or oparree ; from the accounts given of it by ellis and vancouver, there does not appear to be any reef. — i. de bass is an adjoining


crescent - formed coral - reef, i have not coloured it. — rapa, or oparree ; from the accounts given of it by ellis and vancouver, there does not appear to be any reef. — i. de bass is an adjoining isld., of which i cannot find any account. — kemin isld. ; krusenstern seems hardly to know its position, and gives no further particulars. islands between the low and gilbert archipelagoes. caroline isld. ( 10° s., 150° w. ) is described by mr. f. d. bennett ( geograph. journ. vol. vii. p. 225 ) as containing a fine lagoon ; coloured blue. — flint isld., ( 11° s., 151° w. ) ; krusenstern believes that it is the same with peregrino, which is described by quiros ( burney ' s chron. hist. vol. ii. p. 283 ) as " a cluster of small islands connected by a reef, and forming a lagoon in the middle ; " coloured blue. — wostock is an isld. a little more than half a mile in diameter, and apparently quite flat and low, and was discovered by bellinghausen ; it is situated a little west of caroline isld., but it is not placed on the french charts ; i have not coloured it, although i entertain little doubt from the chart of bellinghausen, that it originally contained a small lagoon. — penrhyn isld. ( 9° s., 158° w. ) ; a plan of it in the atlas of the first voyage of kotzebue, shows that it is an atoll ; blue. — starbuck isld. ( 5° s., 156° w. ) ; is described in lord byron ' s voyage in the blonde ( p. 206 ) as formed of a flat coral - rock, with no trees ; the height not given ; not coloured. — malden isld. ( 4° s., 154° w. ) ; in the same voyage ( p. 205 ) this island is said to be of coral formation, and no part above 40 feet high ; i have not ventured to colour it, although, from being of coral formation, it is probably fringed ; in which case it should be red. jarvis, or bunker isld. ( 0° 20 ' s. 160° w. ) is described by mr. f. d.


although, from being of coral formation, it is probably fringed ; in which case it should be red. jarvis, or bunker isld. ( 0° 20 ' s. 160° w. ) is described by mr. f. d. bennett ( geograph. journ. vol. vii. p. 227 ) as a narrow, low strip of coral formation ; not coloured. — brook is a small, low isld. between the two latter ; the position, and perhaps even the existence of it is doubtful ; not coloured. — pescado and humphrey islands ; i can find out nothing about these islands, except that the latter appears to be small and low ; not coloured. — rearson, or grand duke alexander ' s, ( 10° s., 161° w. ) ; an atoll, of which a plan is given by bellinghausen ; blue. — souvoroff islands, ( 13° s., 163° w. ) ; admiral krusenstern, in the most obliging manner, obtained for me an account of these islands from admiral lazareff, who discovered them. they consist of five very low islands of coral formation, two of which are connected by a reef, with deep water close to it. they do not surround a lagoon, but are so placed that a line drawn through them includes an oval space, part of which is shallow ; these islets, therefore, probably once ( as is the case with some of the islands in the caroline arch. ) formed a single atoll ; but i have not coloured them. — danger isld. ( 10° s., 166° w. ) ; described as low by com. byron, and more lately surveyed by bellinghausen ; it is a small atoll with three islets on it ; blue. — clarence isld. ( 9° s., 172° w. ) ; discovered in the pandora ( g. hamilton ' s voyage, p. 75 ) : it is said, " in running along the land, we saw several canoes crossing the lagoons ; " as this island is in the close vicinity of other low islands ; and as it is said, that the natives make reservoirs of water in old cocoa - nut trees, ( which shows the nature of the land ) i have no doubt it is an atoll, and have coloured it blue. — york isld. ( 8° s., 172° w. ) is described by commodore byron ( chap. x. of


shows the nature of the land ) i have no doubt it is an atoll, and have coloured it blue. — york isld. ( 8° s., 172° w. ) is described by commodore byron ( chap. x. of his voyage ) as an atoll ; blue. — sydney isld. ( 4° s., 172° w. ), is about three miles in diameter, with its interior occupied by a lagoon, ( capt. tromelin, annal. marit. 1829, p. 297 ; ) blue. — phoenix isld. ( 4° s., 171° w. ) is nearly circular, low, sandy, not more than two miles in diameter, and very steep outside, ( tromelin annal. marit. 1829, p. 297 ) : it may be inferred that this isld. originally contained a lagoon, but i have not coloured it. — new nantucket, ( 0° 15 ' n., 174° w. ) from the french chart it must be a low isld. ; i can find nothing more about it, or about mary isld. ; both uncoloured. — gardner isld. ( 5° s., 174° w. ), from its position, is certainly the same as kemin isld. described ( krusenstern, p. 435, appen. to mem. publ. 1827 ) as having a lagoon in its centre ; blue. islands south of the sandwich archipelago. christmas isld. ( 2° n., 157° w. ) capt. cook, in his third voyage ( vol. ii. chap. x. ) has given a detailed account of this atoll. the breadth of the islets on the reef is unusually great, and the sea near it does not deepen so suddenly as is generally the case. it has more lately been visited by mr. f. d. bennett, ( geograph. journ. vol. vii. p. 226 ) ; and he assures me that it is low and of coral formation : i particularly mention this, because it is engraved with a capital letter, signifying a high isld., in d ' urville and lottin ' s chart. mr. couthouy, also, has given some account of it, ( remarks, p. 46 ) from the hawaiian spectator ; he believes it has lately undergone a small elevation, but his evidence does not appear to me satisfactory ;


chart. mr. couthouy, also, has given some account of it, ( remarks, p. 46 ) from the hawaiian spectator ; he believes it has lately undergone a small elevation, but his evidence does not appear to me satisfactory ; the deepest part of the lagoon is said to be only ten feet ; nevertheless, i have coloured it blue. — fanning isld., ( 4° n., 158° w. ) according to capt. tromelin, ( ann. maritim. 1829, p. 283, ) is an atoll : his account, as observed by krusenstern, differs from that given in fanning ' s voyage, ( p. 224 ) which, however, is far from clear ; coloured blue. — washington isld. ( 4° n., 159° w. ) is engraved as a low isld. in d ' urville ' s chart, but is described by fanning, ( p. 226, ) as having a much greater elevation than fanning isld., and hence i presume it is not an atoll ; not coloured. — palmyra isld. ( 6° n., 162° w. ) is an atoll divided into two parts ( krusenstern ' s mem. suppl. p. 50, also fanning ' s voyage, p. 233 ) ; blue. — smyth ' s, or johnston ' s islds. ( 17° n., 170° w. ) capt. smyth, r. n., has had the kindness to inform me that they consist of two very low small islands, with a dangerous reef off the east end of them. capt. smyth does not recollect whether these islets, together with the reef, surrounded a lagoon ; uncoloured. sandwich arch. — hawaii ; in the chart in freycinet ' s atlas, small portions of the coast are fringed by reefs ; and in the accompanying hydrog. memoir, reefs are mentioned in several places, and the coral is said to injure the cables. on one side of the islet of kohaihai there is a bank of sand and coral with five feet water on it, running parallel to the shore, and leaving a channel of about fifteen feet deep within. i have coloured this isld. red, but it is very much less perfectly fringed than others of the group. — maui ; in freycinet ' s chart of the anchorage of raheina, two


of about fifteen feet deep within. i have coloured this isld. red, but it is very much less perfectly fringed than others of the group. — maui ; in freycinet ' s chart of the anchorage of raheina, two or three miles of coast are seen to be fringed ; and in the hydrog. memoir " banks of coral along shore " are spoken of. mr. f. d. bennett informs me that the reefs, on an average, extend about a quarter of a mile from the beach ; the land is not very steep, and outside the reefs the sea does not become deep very suddenly ; coloured red. — morotoi, i presume, is fringed : freycinet speaks of the breakers extending along the shore at a little distance from it. from the chart, i believe it is fringed ; coloured red. — oahu ; freycinet, in his hydrog. memoir, mentions some of the reefs. mr. f. d. bennett informs me that the shore is skirted for forty or fifty miles in length. there is even a harbour for ships formed by the reefs, but it is at the mouth of a valley ; red. — atooi, in la peyrouse ' s charts, is represented as fringed by a reef, in the same manner as oahu and morotoi ; and this, as i have been informed by mr. ellis, on part at least of the shore, is of coral formation : the reef does not leave a deep channel within ; red. — oneehow ; mr. ellis believes this island is also fringed by a coral - reef : considering its close proximity to the other islands, i have ventured to colour it red. i have in vain consulted the works of cook, vancouver, la peyrouse, and lisiansky, for any satisfactory account of the small islands and reefs, which lie scattered in a n. w. line prolonged from the sandwich group, and hence have left them uncoloured, with one exception ; for i am indebted to mr. f. d. bennett for informing me of an atoll - formed reef, in lat. 28° 22 ', long. 178° 30 ' w., on which the gledstanes was wrecked in 1837. it is apparently of large size, and extends in a n. w. and s. e. line : very few islets have been formed on it. the lagoon seems to be shallow ; at least


gledstanes was wrecked in 1837. it is apparently of large size, and extends in a n. w. and s. e. line : very few islets have been formed on it. the lagoon seems to be shallow ; at least, the deepest part which was surveyed was only three fathoms. mr. couthouy ( remarks, p. 38 ) describes this isld. under the name of ocean isld. considerable doubts should be entertained regarding the nature of a reef of this kind, with a very shallow lagoon, and standing far from any other atoll, on account of the possibility of a crater or flat bank of rock lying at the proper depth beneath the surface of the water, thus affording a foundation for a ring - formed coral - reef. i have, however, thought myself compelled, from its large size and symmetrical outline, to colour it blue. samoa or navigator group. — kotzebue, in his second voyage, contrasts the structure of these islands with many others in the pacific, in not being furnished with harbours for ships, formed by distant coral - reefs. the rev. j. williams, however, informs me, that coral - reefs do occur in irregular patches on the shores of these islands ; but that they do not form a continuous band, as round mangaia, and other such perfect cases of fringed islands. from the charts accompanying la peyrouse ' s voyage, it appears that the north shore of savaii, maouna, orosenga, and manua, are fringed by reefs. la peyrouse, speaking of maouna, ( p. 126. ) says that the coral - reef surrounding its shores, almost touches the beach ; and is breached in front of the little coves and streams, forming passages for canoes, and probably even for boats. further on ( p. 159. ) he extends the same observation to all the islands which he visited. — mr. williams in his narrative, speaks of a reef going round a small island attached to oyolava, and returning again to it : all these islands have been coloured red. — a chart of rose island, at the extreme west end of the group, is given by freycinet, from which i should have thought that it had been an atoll ; but according to mr. couthouy ( remarks, p. 43. ) it consists of a reef, only a league in circuit, surmounted by a very few low islets ; the lagoon is very


that it had been an atoll ; but according to mr. couthouy ( remarks, p. 43. ) it consists of a reef, only a league in circuit, surmounted by a very few low islets ; the lagoon is very shallow, and is strewed with numerous large boulders of volcanic rock. this island, therefore, probably consists of a bank of rock, a few feet submerged, with the outer margin of its upper surface fringed with reefs ; hence it cannot be properly classed with atolls, in which the foundations are always supposed to lie at a depth, greater than that at which the reef - constructing polypifers can live ; not coloured. beveridge reef, 20° s. 167° w., is described in the naut. mag. ( may 1833, p. 442 ) as ten miles long in a n. & s. line, and eight wide ; " in the inside of the reef, there appears deep water ; " there is a passage near the s. w. corner : this therefore seems to be a submerged atoll, and is coloured blue. savage isl., 19° s. 170° w., has been described by cook and forster. the younger forster, ( vol. ii. p. 163. ) says it is about forty feet high : he suspects that it contains a low plain, which formerly was the lagoon. the rev. j. williams informs me that the reef fringing its shores, resembles that round mangaia ; coloured red. friendly arch. — pylstaart isl : judging from the chart in freycinet ' s atlas, i should have supposed that it had been regularly fringed ; but as nothing is said in the hydrog. memoir ( or in the voyage of tasman, the discoverer ) about coral - reefs, i have left it uncoloured. — tongatabou : in the atlas of the voyage of the astrolabe, the whole south side of the island is represented as narrowly fringed by the same reef which forms an extensive platform on the northern side. the origin of this latter reef, which might have been mistaken for a barrier - reef, has already been attempted to be explained, when giving the proofs of the recent elevation of this island. — in cook ' s charts the little outlying island also of eoaigee, is represented as fringed ; coloured red. — eoua : i cannot make out from capt. cook ' s charts and descriptions, that


of this island. — in cook ' s charts the little outlying island also of eoaigee, is represented as fringed ; coloured red. — eoua : i cannot make out from capt. cook ' s charts and descriptions, that this island has any reef, although the bottom of the neighbouring sea seems to be corally, and the island itself is formed of coral - rock. forster, however, distinctly ( observations, p. 14. ) classes it with high islands having reefs, but it certainly is not encircled by a barrier - reef ; and the younger forster ( voyage, vol. 1., p. 426. ) says, that " a bed of coral rocks surrounded the coast towards the landing - place. " i have therefore classed it with the fringed islands, and coloured it red. the several islands lying n. w. of tongatabou, namely anamouka, komango, kotou, lefouga, foa, & c., are seen in capt. cook ' s chart to be fringed by reefs, and several of them are connected together. from the various statements in the first volume of cook ' s third voyage, and especially in the 4th and 6th chapters, it appears that these reefs are of coral formation, and certainly do not belong to the barrier class ; coloured red. — toufoa & kao, forming the western part of the group, according to forster, have no reefs ; the former is an active volcano, — vavao. there is a chart of this singularly - formed island, by espinoza : according to mr. williams it consists of coral - rock : the chevalier dillon informs me that it is not fringed ; not coloured. nor are the islands of latte and amargura, for i have not seen plans on a large scale of them, and do not know whether they are fringed. niouha, 16° s. 174° w. or keppel island of wallis, or cocos isld. from a view and chart of this island, given in wallis ' s voyage, ( 4to. edit ) it is evidently encircled by a reef ; coloured blue : it is however remarkable that boscawen island, immediately adjoining, has no reef of any kind ; uncoloured. wallis island, 13° s. 176° w., a chart and view of this island in wallis ' s voyage, ( 4to. edit. ) shows that it is encircled. a view of it


of any kind ; uncoloured. wallis island, 13° s. 176° w., a chart and view of this island in wallis ' s voyage, ( 4to. edit. ) shows that it is encircled. a view of it in the naut. mag. july 1833, p. 376., shows the same fact ; blue. alloufatou, or horn island, onouafu, or proby island, and hunter islands, lie between the navigator and fidji groups. i can find no distinct accounts of them. fidji or viti group. — the best chart of the numerous islands of this group, will be found in the atlas of the astrolabe ' s voyage. from this, and from the description given in the hydrog. memoir accompanying it, it appears that many of these islands are bold and mountainous, rising to the height of between 3, 000 and 4, 000 feet. most of the islands are surrounded by reefs, lying far from the land, and outside of which the ocean appears very deep. the astrolabe sounded with 90 fathoms in several places about a mile from the reefs, and found no bottom. although the depth within the reef, is not laid down, it is evident from several expressions, that capt. d ' urville believes that ships could anchor within, if passages existed through the outer barriers. the chev. dillon informs me that this is the case : hence i have coloured this group blue. in the s. e. part, lies batoa, or turtle island of cook, ( 2nd voyage, vol. 2. p. 23, and chart ; 4to. edit. ) surrounded by a coral - reef, " which in some places extends two miles from the shore ; " within the reef the water appears to be deep, and outside it is unfathomable ; coloured pale blue. at the distance of a few miles, capt. cook ( ibid. p. 24 ) found a circular coral - reef, four or five leagues in circuit, with deep water within ; " in short, the bank wants only a few little islets to make it exactly like one of the half - drowned isles so often mentioned, " — namely, atolls. south of batoa, lies the high island of ono, which appears in bellinghausen ' s atlas to be encircled ; as do some other small islands to the south ; coloured pale blue : near ono, there is an annular - reef, quite


of batoa, lies the high island of ono, which appears in bellinghausen ' s atlas to be encircled ; as do some other small islands to the south ; coloured pale blue : near ono, there is an annular - reef, quite similar to the one just described in the words of capt. cook ; coloured dark blue. rotoumah, 13° s. 179° e. — from the chart in duperrey ' s atlas, i thought this isl. was encircled, and had coloured it blue ; but the chev. dillon assures me that the reef is only a shore or fringing one ; red. independence isl. 10° s. 179° e., is described by mr. g. bennett, ( united service journ. 1831, part ii. p. 197 ) as a low island of coral formation ; it is small, and does not appear to contain a lagoon, although an opening through the reef is referred to. a lagoon probably once existed, and has since been filled up ; left uncoloured. ellice group. — oscar, peyster, and ellice islds., are figured in arrowsmith ' s chart of the pacific ( corrected to 1832 ) as atolls, and are said to be very low ; blue. — nederlandisch isl. i am greatly indebted to the kindness of admiral krusenstern, for sending me the original documents concerning this island. from the plans given by capts. eeg and khremtshenko, and from the detailed account given by the former, it appears that it is a narrow coral island, about two miles long, containing a small lagoon. the sea is very deep close to the shore, which is fronted by sharp coral - rocks. capt. eeg compares the lagoon with that of other coral - islands ; and he distinctly says, the land is " very low ". i have therefore coloured it blue. admiral krusenstern ( memoir on the pacific, append. 1835 ) states that its shores are 80 ft. high ; this probably arose from the height of the cocoa - nut trees, with which it is covered, being mistaken for land. — gran cocal is said in krusenstern ' s memoir to be low, and to be surrounded by a reef ; it is small, and therefore probably once contained a lagoon ; uncoloured. — st. augustin. from a chart and view of it, given in the atlas of the co


memoir to be low, and to be surrounded by a reef ; it is small, and therefore probably once contained a lagoon ; uncoloured. — st. augustin. from a chart and view of it, given in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage, it appears to be a small atoll, with its lagoon partly filled up ; coloured blue. gilbert group. — the chart of this group, given in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage, at once shows that it is composed of ten well characterized atolls. in d ' urville and lottin ' s chart, sydenham is written with a capital letter, signifying that it is high ; but this certainly is not the case, for it is a perfectly characterized atoll, and a sketch, showing how low it is, is given in the coquille ' s atlas. some narrow strip - like reefs project from the southern side of drummond atoll, and render it irregular. the southern island of the group is called chase ( in some charts, rotches ) ; of this i can find no account, but mr. f. d. bennett discovered ( geograph. journ. vol. vii. p. 229, ) a low extensive island in nearly the same latitude, about three degrees westward of the longitude assigned to rotches, but very probably it is the same island. mr. bennett informs me that the man at the mast - head reported an appearance of lagoon - water in the centre ; and, therefore, considering its position, i have coloured it blue. pitt isld., at the extreme northern point of the group, is left uncoloured, as its exact position and nature is not known. — byron isld., which lies a little to the eastward, does not appear to have been visited since commodore byron ' s voyage, and it was then seen only from a distance of 18 miles ; it is said to be low ; uncoloured. ocean, pleasant, and atlantic islds. all lie considerably to the west of the gilbert group : i have been unable to find any distinct account of them. ocean island is written with small letters in the french chart, but in krusenstern ' s memoir it is said to be high. marshall group. — we are well acquainted with this group from the excellent charts of the separate islands, made during the two voyages of kotzebue : a reduced one of the whole group may be easily seen in krusenstern ' s atlas, and


. — we are well acquainted with this group from the excellent charts of the separate islands, made during the two voyages of kotzebue : a reduced one of the whole group may be easily seen in krusenstern ' s atlas, and in kotzebue ' s second voyage. the group consists ( with the exception of two little islands which probably have had their lagoon filled up, ) of a double row of 23 large and well - characterized atolls, from the examination of which chamisso has given us his well - known account of coral formations. i include gaspar - rico, or cornwallis isld., in this group, which is described by chamisso ( kotzebue ' s first voyage, vol. iii. p. 179, ) " as a low sickle - formed group, with mould only on the windward side. " gaspard island is considered by some geographers as a distinct island lying n. e. of the group, but it is not entered in the chart by krusenstern ; left uncoloured. in the s. w. part of this group lies baring isld., of which little is known ; ( see krusenstern ' s appendix, 1835, p. 149. ) i have left it uncoloured ; but boston isld. i have coloured blue, as it is described ( ibid. ) as consisting of 14 small islands, which, no doubt, inclose a lagoon, as represented in a chart in the coquille ' s atlas. — two islands, aur kawen and gaspar rico, are written in the french chart with capital letters ; but this is an error, for from the account given by chamisso in kotzebue ' s first voyage, they are certainly low. the nature, position, and even existence, of the shoals and small islands north of the marshall group, are doubtful. new hebrides. — any chart, on even a small scale, of these islands, will show that their shores are almost without reefs, presenting a remarkable contrast with those of new caledonia on the one hand, and the fidji group on the other. nevertheless, i have been assured by mr. g. bennett, that coral grows vigorously on their shores ; as, indeed, will be further shown in some of the following notices. as, therefore, these islands are not encircled, and as coral grows vigorously on their shores, we might almost conclude,


. bennett, that coral grows vigorously on their shores ; as, indeed, will be further shown in some of the following notices. as, therefore, these islands are not encircled, and as coral grows vigorously on their shores, we might almost conclude, without further evidence, that they were fringed, and hence i have applied the red colour with rather greater freedom than in other instances. — matthew ' s rock, an active volcano, someway south of the group ( of which a plan is given in atlas of the astrolabe ' s voyage ) does not appear to have reefs of any kind about it. — annatom, the southernmost of the hebrides ; from a rough wood - cut given in the united service journal ( 1831, part iii. p. 190, ) accompanying a paper by mr. bennett, it appears that the shore is fringed ; coloured red. — tanna ; forster, in his observations ( p. 22, ) says tanna has on its shores coral - rock and madrepores ; and the younger forster, in his account ( vol. ii. p. 269, ) speaking of the harbour says, the whole s. e. side consists of coral - reefs, which are overflowed at high water : part of the southern shore in cook ' s chart is represented as fringed ; coloured red. — immer, is described ( united service journ. 1831, part iii. p. 192, ) by mr. bennett, as being of moderate elevation, with cliffs appearing like sandstone : coral grows in patches on its shore, but i have not coloured it ; and i mention these facts, because immer might have been thought, from forster ' s classification ( observations, p. 14, ) to have been a low island, or even an atoll. — erromango isl. ; cook ( 2d voyage, vol. ii. p. 45, 4to. edit. ) speaks of rocks every where lining the coast, and the natives offered to haul his boat over the breakers to the sandy beach : mr. bennett, in a letter to the editor of the singapore chron., alludes to the reefs on its shores. it may, i think, be safely inferred from these passages that the shore is fringed in parts by coral reefs ; coloured red. — sandwich isld., the east coast is said ( cook ' s 2d voyage, vol. ii. p. 41, ) to be low, and to be guarded by a chain


is fringed in parts by coral reefs ; coloured red. — sandwich isld., the east coast is said ( cook ' s 2d voyage, vol. ii. p. 41, ) to be low, and to be guarded by a chain of breakers. in the accompanying chart it is seen to be fringed by a reef ; coloured red. — mallicollo ; forster speaks of the reef - bounded shore : the reef is about thirty yards wide, and so shallow that a boat cannot pass over it. forster, also, ( observat. p. 23, ) says, that the rocks of the sea - shore consist of madrepore. in the plan of sandwich harbour, the headlands are represented as fringed ; coloured red. — aurora and pentecost islds., according to bougainville, apparently have no reefs : nor has the large isld. of s. espiritu, nor bligh isld. or banks ' islds., which latter lie to the n. e. of the hebrides. but in none of these cases, have i met with any detailed account of their shores, or seen plans on a large scale ; and it will be evident, that a fringing reef of only thirty, or even a few hundred yards in width, is of so little importance to navigation, that it will seldom be noticed, excepting by chance ; and hence i do not doubt that several of these islands, now left uncoloured, ought to be red. santa - cruz group. — vanikoro ( fig. 1, pl. i. ) offers a striking example of a barrier - reef : it was first described by the chevalier dillon, in his voyage, and was surveyed in the astrolabe ; coloured pale blue. — tikopia and fataka islands appear, from the descriptions of dillon and d ' urville, to have no reefs : anouda is a low, flat isld., surrounded by cliffs, ( astrolabe hydrog. and krusenstern mem. vol. ii. p. 432 ) ; these are uncoloured. — toupoua ( otooboa of dillon ) is stated by capt. tromelin ( annales marit. 1829, p. 289 ) to be almost entirely included in a reef, lying at the distance of two miles from the shore. there is a space of three miles without any reef, which, although indented with


be atoll - formed ; these are left uncoloured. australian barrier - reef. — the limits of this great reef, which has already been described, have been coloured from the charts of flinders and king. in the northern parts, an atoll - formed reef, lying outside the barrier, has been described by bligh, and is coloured dark blue. in the space between australia and new caledonia, called by flinders the corallian sea, there are numerous reefs. of these, some are represented in krusenstern ' s atlas as having an atoll - like structure ; namely, bampton shoal, frederic, vine or horse - shoe, and alert reefs ; these have been coloured dark blue. louisiade : the dangerous reefs which front and surround the western, southern, and northern coasts of this so - called peninsula and archipelago, seem evidently to belong to the barrier class. the land is lofty, with a low fringe on the coast ; the reefs are distant, and the sea outside them profoundly deep. nearly all that is known of this group is derived from the labours of dentrecasteaux and bougainville : the latter has represented one continuous reef ninety miles long, parallel to the shore, and in places as much as ten miles from it ; coloured pale blue. a little distance northward, we have the laughlan islds., the reefs round which are engraved in the atlas of the voyage of the astrolabe, in the same manner as in the encircled islands of the caroline arch. : the reef is, in parts, a mile and a half from the shore, to which it does not appear to be attached ; coloured blue. at some little distance from the extremity of the louisiade lies wells reef, described in g. hamilton ' s voyage in h. m. s. pandora, ( p. 100 ) : it is said, " we found we had got embayed in a double reef, which will soon be an island. " as this statement is only intelligible on the supposition of the reef being crescent or horse - shoe formed, like so many other submerged annular reefs, i have ventured to colour it blue. saloman archipelago : the chart in krusenstern ' s atlas shows that these islands are not encircled, and as coral appears, from the works of surville, bougainville, and labillardiere, to grow on their shores, this circumstance, as in the case of the new hebrides,


that these islands are not encircled, and as coral appears, from the works of surville, bougainville, and labillardiere, to grow on their shores, this circumstance, as in the case of the new hebrides, is a presumption that they are fringed. i cannot find out anything from dentrecasteaux ' s voyage, regarding the southern islds. of the group, so have left them uncoloured. — malayta isld. in a rough ms. chart in the admiralty has its northern shore fringed. — ysabel isld., the n. e. part of this island, in the same chart, is also fringed : mendana, speaking ( burney, vol. i. p. 280 ) of an islet adjoining the northern coast, says it is surrounded by reefs : the shores, also, of port praslin appear regularly fringed. — choiseul isld. ; in bougainville ' s chart of choiseul bay, parts of the shores are fringed by coral - reefs. — bougainville isld. ; according to dentrecasteaux, the western shore abounds with coral - reefs, and the smaller islands are said to be attached to the larger ones by reefs ; all the before - mentioned islands have been coloured red. — bouka islds. ; capt. duperrey has kindly informed me in a letter, that he passed close round the northern side of this island, ( of which a plan is given in his atlas of the coquille ' s voyage, ) and that it was " garnie d ' une bande de recifs a fleur d ' eau adherentes au rivage ; " and he infers, from the abundance of coral on the islands north and south of bouka, that the reef probably is of coral ; coloured red. off the north coast of the salomon arch., there are several small groups which are little known : they appear to be low, and of coral formation ; and some of them probably have an atoll - like structure : the chev. dillon, however, informs me this is not the case with the b. de candelaria. — outong java, according to the spanish navigator, maurelle, is thus characterized ; but this is the only one, which i have ventured to colour blue. new ireland. — the shores of the s. w. point of


" three or four miles in diameter, having deep water inside with an opening at the n. n. w. part, and on the outside steep to. " i have from these data, coloured the group pale blue, and circular - reef dark blue. — the anachorites, echequier, and hermites, consist of innumerable low islands of coral formation, which probably have atoll - like forms ; but not being able to ascertain this, i have not coloured them, nor durour isld., which is described by carteret as low. the caroline arch. is now well known, chiefly from the hydrographical labours of lutke : it contains about forty groups of atolls, and three encircled islands, two of which are engraved in fig. 2 and 7, pl. i. commencing with the eastern part ; the encircling reef round ualan, appears to be only about half a mile from the shore ; but as the land is low, and covered with mangroves, ( voyage autour da monde, par f. lutke, vol. i. p. 339 ) the real margin has not probably been ascertained. the extreme depth in one of the harbours within the reef, is 33 fathoms, ( see charts in atlas of coquille ' s voyage, ) and outside at half a mile distance from the reef, no bottom was obtained with 250 fathoms. the reef is surmounted by many islets, and the lagoon - like channel within is mostly shallow, and appears to have been much encroached on by the low land surrounding the central mountains ; these facts show that time has allowed much detritus to accumulate ; coloured pale blue. — pouynipete or seniavine. in the greater part of the circumference of this island, the reef is about one mile and three quarters distant : on the north side it is five miles off the included high islets. the reef is broken in several places ; and just within it, the depth in one place is 30 fathoms, and in another, 28, beyond which, to all appearance, there was " un porte vaste et sur. " ( lutke, vol. ii. p. 4. ) coloured pale blue. — hogoleu or roug. this wonderful group contains at least 62 islands, and its reef is 135 miles in circuit. of the islands, only a few, about six or


vol. ii. p. 4. ) coloured pale blue. — hogoleu or roug. this wonderful group contains at least 62 islands, and its reef is 135 miles in circuit. of the islands, only a few, about six or eight, ( see hydrog. description, p. 428 of the voyage of the astrolabe, and the large accompanying chart taken chiefly from that given by duperrey, ) are high, and the rest are all small, low, and formed on the reef. the depth of the great interior lake has not been ascertained ; but capt. d ' urville appears to have entertained no doubt about the possibility of taking in a frigate. the reef lies no less than fourteen miles distant from the northern coasts of the interior high islds. ; seven from their western sides, and twenty from the southern : the sea is deep outside. this island is a likeness on a grand scale to the gambier group in the low archipelago. of the groups of low * islands forming the chief part of the caroline archipelago, all those of larger size, have the true atoll - structure, ( as may be seen in the atlas by capt. lutke ) and some even of the very small ones, as macaskill and duperrey, of which plans are given in the atlas of the coquille ' s voyage. there are however, some low, small islands of coral formation, namely, ollap, tamatam, bigali, satahoual, which do not contain lagoons ; but it is probable that lagoons originally existed, but have since filled up : lutke ( vol. ii. p. 304. ) seems to have thought that all the low islands, with only one exception, contained lagoons. from the sketches, and from the manner in which the margins of these islands are engraved in the atlas of the voyage of the coquille, it might have been thought that they were not low ; but by a comparison with the remarks of lutke ( vol. ii. p. 107, regarding bigali ) and of freycinet ( hydrog. mem. l ' uranie, voy. p. 188, regarding tamatam, ollap, & c. ) it will be seen that the artist must have represented the land incorrectly. the most southern isld. in the group, namely, piguiram, is not coloured, because i have found no account of it.


on the reef ; coloured dark blue. pelew islds. — krusenstern speaks of some of the islands being mountainous ; the reefs are distant from the shore, and there are spaces within them, and not opposite valleys, with from ten to fifteen fathoms. according to a ms. chart of the group by lieut. elmer in the admiralty, there is a large space within the reef with deepish water : although the high land does not hold a central position with respect to the reefs, as is generally the case, i have little doubt that the reefs of the pelew islands ought to be ranked with the barrier - class, and i have coloured them pale blue. in lieut. elmer ' s chart there is a horse - shoe - formed shoal, laid down thirteen miles n. w. of pelew, with fifteen fathoms within the reef, and some dry banks on it ; coloured dark blue. — spanish, martires, sanserot, pulo anna and mariere islands are not coloured, because i know nothing about them, excepting that according to krusenstern, the second, third, and fourth mentioned, are low, placed on coral - reefs, and therefore perhaps contain lagoons ; but pulo mariere is a little higher. mariana archipelago, or ladrones. — guahan. almost the whole of this island is fringed by reefs, which extend in most parts about a third of a mile from the land. even where the reefs are most extensive, the water within them is shallow. in several parts there is a navigable channel for boats and canoes within the reefs. in freycinet ' s hydrog. mem., there is an account of these reefs, and in the atlas, a map on a large scale ; coloured red. — rota. " l ' ile est presque entierement entouree des recifs. " ( p. 212, freycinet ' s hydrog. mem. ) these reefs project about a quarter of a mile from the shore ; coloured red. — tinian. the eastern coast is precipitous, and is without reefs ; but the western side is fringed like the last island ; coloured red. — saypan. the n. e. coast, and likewise the western shores appear to be fringed ; but there is a great, irregular, horn - like reef projecting far from this side ; coloured red. — farallon


coloured red. — saypan. the n. e. coast, and likewise the western shores appear to be fringed ; but there is a great, irregular, horn - like reef projecting far from this side ; coloured red. — farallon de medinilla, appears so regularly and closely - fringed in freycinet ' s charts, that i have ventured to colour it red, although nothing is said about reefs in the hydrographical memoir. the several islands which form the northern part of the group are volcanic, ( with the exception perhaps of torres, which resembles in form the madreporitic island of medinilla, ) and appear to be without reefs. mangs, however, is described ( by freycinet, p. 219, hydrog. ) from some spanish charts, as formed of small islands placed " au milieu des nombreux recifs ; " and as these reefs in the general chart of the group do not project so much as a mile ; and as there is no appearance from a double line, of the existence of deep water within, i have ventured, although with much hesitation, to colour them red. respecting folger and marshall islds., which lie some way east of the marianas, i can find out nothing, excepting that they are probably low. krusenstern says this of marshall isl. ; and folger isl. is written with small letters in d ' urville ' s chart ; uncoloured. bonin or arzobispo group. — peel isld. has been examined by capt. beechey, to whose kindness i am much indebted for giving me information regarding it : " at port lloyd there is a great deal of coral ; and the inner harbour is entirely formed by coral reefs, which extend outside the port along the coast. " capt. beechey, in another part of his letter to me, alludes to the reefs fringing the island in all directions ; but at the same time it must be observed that the surf washes the volcanic rocks of the coast in the greater part of its circumference. i do not know whether the other islands of the archipelago, are fringed ; i have coloured peel isld. red. — grampus isld. to the eastward, does not appear ( meare ' s voyage, p. 95. ) to have any reefs, nor does rosario isld., ( from lutke ' s chart ) which lies to


. — grampus isld. to the eastward, does not appear ( meare ' s voyage, p. 95. ) to have any reefs, nor does rosario isld., ( from lutke ' s chart ) which lies to the westward. respecting the few other islands in this part of the sea, namely the sulphur islds. with an active volcano, and those lying between bonin and japan, ( which are situated near the extreme limit in latitude, at which reefs are formed, ) i have not been able to find any clear account. west end of new guinea. — port dory. from the charts in the voyage of the coquille, it would appear that the coast in this part is fringed by coral - reefs ; m. lesson, however, remarks that the coral is sickly ; coloured red. — waigiou. a considerable portion of the northern shore of these islands are seen in the charts ( on a large scale ) in freycinet ' s atlas to be fringed by coral - reefs. forrest ( p. 21, voyage to new guinea ) alludes to the coral - reefs lining the heads of piapis bay ; and horsburgh, ( vol. ii. p. 599, 4th edit. ) speaking of the islands in dampier strait, says, " sharp coral - rocks line their shores ; " coloured red. — in the sea north of these islands, we have guedes, ( or freewill, or st. david ' s, ) which from the chart given in the 4to edit. of carteret ' s voyage, must be an atoll. krusenstern says the islets are very low ; coloured blue. — carteret ' s shoals, in 2° 53 ' n., are described as circular, with stony points shewing all round, with deeper water in the middle ; coloured blue. — aiou ; the plan of this group, given in the atlas of the voyage of the astrolabe, shows that it is an atoll ; and, from a chart in forrest ' s voyage, it appears there is twelve fathoms within the circular reef ; coloured blue. — the s. w. coast of new guinea appears to be low, muddy, and devoid of reefs. the arru, timor laut and tenimber groups have lately been examined by capt. kolff, the ms. translation of which, by mr. w. earl, i have been permitted to read


muddy, and devoid of reefs. the arru, timor laut and tenimber groups have lately been examined by capt. kolff, the ms. translation of which, by mr. w. earl, i have been permitted to read, through the kindness of capt. washington, r. n. these islands are mostly rather low, and are surrounded by distant reefs ; ( the ki islands, however, are lofty, and, from mr. stanley ' s survey, appear without reefs ; ) the sea in some parts is shallow, in others profoundly deep, ( as near larrat ). from the imperfection of the published charts, i have been unable to decide to which class these reefs belongs. from the distance to which they extend from the land where the sea is very deep, i am strongly inclined to believe they ought to come within the barrier class, and be coloured blue ; but i have been forced to leave them uncoloured. — the last - mentioned groups are connected with the east end of ceram by a chain of small islands, of which the small groups of ceram - laut, goram, and keffing are surrounded by very extensive reefs, projecting into deep water, which, as in the last case, i strongly suspect belong to the barrier class ; but i have not coloured them. from the south side of keffing, the reefs project five miles, ( windsor earl ' s sailing direct. for the arafura sea, p. 9. ) ceram. — in various charts which i have examined, several parts of the coast are represented as fringed by reefs. — manipa island, between ceram and bourou, in an old ms. chart in the admiralty, is fringed by a very irregular reef, partly dry at low water, which i do not doubt is of coral formation ; both islands coloured red. — bourou ; parts of this island appear fringed by coral - reefs, namely, the eastern coast, as seen in freycinet ' s chart ; and cajeli bay, which is said by horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 630 ) to be lined by coral - reefs, that stretch out a little way, and have only a few feet water on them. in several charts, portions of the islands forming the amboina group are fringed by reefs ; for instance, noessa, harenca, and ucaster, in freycinet ' s charts. the above - mentioned islands


on them. in several charts, portions of the islands forming the amboina group are fringed by reefs ; for instance, noessa, harenca, and ucaster, in freycinet ' s charts. the above - mentioned islands have been coloured red, although the evidence is not very satisfactory. — north of bourou the parallel line of the xulla isles extend : i have not been able to find out anything about them, excepting that horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 543 ) says that the northern shore is surrounded by a reef at the distance of two or three miles ; uncoloured. — mysol group ; the kanary islands are said by forrest ( voyage, p. 130 ) to be divided from each other by deep straits, and are lined with coral - rocks ; coloured red. — guebe, lying between waigiou and gilolo, is engraved as if fringed ; and it is said by freycinet, that all the soundings under five fathoms were on coral ; coloured red. — gilolo. in a chart published by dalrymple, the numerous islands on the western, southern, ( batchian and the strait of patientia, ) and eastern sides appear fringed by narrow reefs ; these reefs, i suppose, are of coral, for it is said in malte brun, ( vol. xii. p. 156, ) " sur les cotes ( of batchian ) comme dans les plupart des iles de cet archipel, il y a de rocs de madrepores d ' une beaute et d ' une variete infinies. " forrest, also, ( p. 50, ) says seland, near batchian, is a little island with reefs of coral ; coloured red. — morty island, ( north of gilolo ) ; horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 506 ) says the northern coast is lined by reefs, projecting one or two miles, and having no soundings close to them ; i have left it uncoloured, although, as in some former cases, it ought probably to be pale blue. — celebes. the western and northern coasts appear in the charts to be bold and without reefs. near the extreme northern point, however, an islet in the straits of limbe, and part of the adjoining shore, appear to be fringed : the east side of the bay of manado, has


charts to be bold and without reefs. near the extreme northern point, however, an islet in the straits of limbe, and part of the adjoining shore, appear to be fringed : the east side of the bay of manado, has deep water, and is fringed by sand and coral, ( astol. voyage hydrog. part, p. 453 - 4 ) ; this extreme point, therefore, i have coloured red. — of the islands leading from this point to magindanao, i have not been able to find any account, except of serangani, which appears surrounded by narrow reefs ; and forrest ( voyage, p. 164 ) speaks of coral on its shores ; i have, therefore, coloured this island red. to the eastward of this chain lie several islands ; of which i cannot find any account, except of karkalang, which is said by horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 504 ) to be lined by a dangerous reef, projecting several miles from the northern shore ; not coloured. islands near timor. — the account of the following islands is taken from capt. d. kolff ' s voyage in 1825, translated by mr. w. earl, from the dutch. — lette has " reefs extending along shore at the distance of half a mile from the land. " — moa has reefs on the s. w. part. — lakor has a reef lining its shore ; these islands are coloured red. still more eastward, luan has, differently from the last - mentioned islands, an extensive reef ; it is steep outside, and within there is a depth of twelve feet ; from these facts, it is impossible to decide which class this island belongs. — kissa, off the point of timor, has its " shore fronted by a reef, steep too on the outer side, over which small proahs can go at the time of high water ; " coloured red. — timor ; most of the points, and some considerable spaces of the northern shore, are seen in freycinet ' s chart to be fringed by coral - reefs ; and mention is made of them in the accompanying hydrog. memoir ; coloured red. — savu, s. e. of timor, appears in flinders ' chart to be fringed ; but i have not coloured it, as i do not know that the reefs are of coral. — sandalwood isld. has, according to horsburgh ( vol. ii. p.


appears in flinders ' chart to be fringed ; but i have not coloured it, as i do not know that the reefs are of coral. — sandalwood isld. has, according to horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 607, ) a reef on its southern shore, four miles distant from the land ; as the neighbouring sea is deep, and generally bold, this probably is a barrier - reef, but i have not ventured to colour it. n. w. coast of australia. — it appears, in capt. king ' s sailing directions ( narrative of survey, vol. ii. pp. 325 to 369, ) that there are many extensive coral - reefs skirting, often at considerable distances, the n. w. shores, and encompassing the small adjoining islets. deep water, in no instance, is represented in the charts between these reefs and the land ; and, therefore, they probably belong to the fringing class. but as they extend far into the sea, which is generally shallow, even in places where the land seems to be somewhat precipitous ; i have not coloured them. houtman ' s abrolhos ( lat. 28° s. on west coast ) have lately been surveyed by capt. wickham ( as described in naut. mag., 1841, p. 511 ) : they lie on the edge of a steeply - shelving bank, which extends about 30 miles seaward, along the whole line of coast. the two southern reefs, or islands, enclose a lagoon - like space of water, varying in depth from 5 to 15 fathoms, and in one spot with 23 fathoms. the greater part of the land has been formed on their inland sides, by the accumulation of fragments of corals ; the sea - ward face consisting of nearly bare ledges of rock. some of the specimens, brought home by capt. wickham, contained fragments of marine shells, but others did not ; and these closely resembled a formation at king george ' s sound, principally due to the action of the wind on calcareous dust, which i shall describe in a forthcoming part. from the extreme irregularity of these reefs with their lagoons, and from their position on a bank, the usual depth of which is only 30 fathoms, i have not ventured to class them with atolls, and hence have left them uncoloured. — rowley shoals. these lie someway from the n


position on a bank, the usual depth of which is only 30 fathoms, i have not ventured to class them with atolls, and hence have left them uncoloured. — rowley shoals. these lie someway from the n. w. coast of australia : according to capt. king ( narrative of survey, vol. i. p. 60, ) they are of coral - formation. they rise abruptly from the sea, and capt. king had no bottom with 170 fathom close to them. three of them are crescent - shaped ; they are mentioned by mr. lyell, on the authority of capt. king, with reference to the direction of their open sides. " a third oval reef of the same group is entirely submerged, " ( principles of geolog., book iii. chap. xviii. ) ; coloured blue. — scott ' s reefs, lying north of rowley shoals, are briefly described by capt. wickham ( naut. mag., 1841, p. 440 ) : they appear to be of great size, of a circular form, and " with smooth water within, forming probably a lagoon of great extent. " there is a break on the western side, where there probably is an entrance : the water is very deep off these reefs ; coloured blue. proceeding westward along the great volcanic chain of the east - indian archipelago, solor strait is represented in a chart published by dalrymple from a dutch ms., as fringed ; as are parts of flores, of adenara, and of solor. horsburgh speaks of coral growing on these shores, and therefore i have no doubt that the reefs are of coral, and accordingly have coloured them red. we hear from horsburgh ( vol ii. p. 602, ) that a coral flat bounds the shores of sapy bay. from the same authority it appears ( p. 610, ) that reefs fringe the island of timor - young, on the n. shore of sumbawa ; and, likewise, ( p. 600, ) that bally town in lombock, is fronted by a reef, stretching along the shore at the distance of a hundred fathoms, with channels through it for boats ; these places, therefore, have been coloured red. — bally isld. : in a dutch ms. chart on a large scale of java, which was brought from that island by dr. horsfield, who had the kindness to show it me at the


therefore, have been coloured red. — bally isld. : in a dutch ms. chart on a large scale of java, which was brought from that island by dr. horsfield, who had the kindness to show it me at the india - house, its western, northern, and southern shores appear very regularly fringed by a reef ( see, also, horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 593 ) ; and as coral is found abundantly there, i have not the least doubt that the reef is of coral, and therefore have coloured it red. java. — my information regarding the reefs of this great island is derived from the chart just mentioned. the greater part of madura is represented in it as regularly fringed, and likewise portions of the coast of java immediately south of it. dr. horsfield informs me that coral is very abundant near sourabaya. the islets and parts of the n. coast of java, west of point buang, or japara, are fringed by reefs, said to be of coral. lubeck, or bavian islands, lying at some distance from the shore of java, are regularly fringed by coral - reefs : carimon java appears equally so, though it is not directly said that the reefs are of coral ; there is a depth between 30 and 40 fathoms round these islands. parts of the shores of sunda str., where the water is from 40 to 80 fathoms deep, and the islets near batavia appear in several charts to be fringed. in the dutch chart the southern shore, in the narrowest part of the island, is in two places fringed by reefs of coral. west of segorrowodee bay, and the extreme s. e. and e. portions are likewise fringed by coral - reefs ; all the above - mentioned places coloured red. macassar st. ; the east coast of borneo appears, in most parts, free from reefs, and where they occur, as on the coast of pamaroong, the sea is very shallow ; hence no part is coloured. in macassar str. itself, in about lat. 2° s., there are many small islands with coral shoals projecting far from them. there are also ( old charts by dalrymple ) numerous little flats of coral, not rising to the surface of the water, and shelving suddenly from five fathoms to no bottom with fifty fathoms ; they do


far from them. there are also ( old charts by dalrymple ) numerous little flats of coral, not rising to the surface of the water, and shelving suddenly from five fathoms to no bottom with fifty fathoms ; they do not appear to have a lagoon - like structure. there are similar coral - shoals a little farther south ; and in lat. 4° 55 ' there are two, which are engraved from modern surveys, in a manner which might represent an annular reef with deep water inside : capt. moresby, however, who was formerly in this sea, doubts this fact, so that i have left them uncoloured : at the same time i may remark, that these two shoals make a nearer approach to the atoll - like structure than any other within the e. indian arch. southward of these shoals there are other low islands and irregular coral - reefs ; and in the space of sea, north of the great volcanic chain, from timor to java, we have also other islands, such as the postillions, kalatoa, tokan - bessees, & c., which are chiefly low, and are surrounded by very irregular and distant reefs. from the imperfect charts i have seen, i have not been able to decide whether they belong to the atoll or barrier - classes, or whether they merely fringe submarine banks, and gently sloping land. in the bay of bonin, between the two southern arms of celebes, there are numerous coral - reefs ; but none of them seem to have an atoll - like structure. i have, therefore, not coloured any of the islands in this part of the sea ; i think it, however, exceedingly probable that some of them ought to be blue. i may add that there is a harbour on the s. e. coast of bouton, which, according to an old chart, is formed by a reef, parallel to the shore, with deep water within ; and in the voyage of the coquille, some neighbouring islands are represented with reefs a good way distant, but i do not know whether with deep water within. i have not thought the evidence sufficient to permit me to colour them. sumatra. — commencing with the west coast and outlying islands ; engano isld. is represented in the published chart as surrounded by a narrow reef, and napier, in his sailing directions, speaks of the reef being of coral ( also horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 115 ) ; coloured red. rat


isld. is represented in the published chart as surrounded by a narrow reef, and napier, in his sailing directions, speaks of the reef being of coral ( also horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 115 ) ; coloured red. rat isld. 3° 51 ' s. is surrounded by reefs of coral, partly dry at low water ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 96 ). — trieste isld. ( 4° 2 ' s. ) the shore is represented, in a chart which i saw at the india house, as fringed in such a manner, that i feel sure the fringe consists of coral ; but as the island is so low, that the sea sometimes flows quite over it, ( dampier voyage, vol. i. p. 474 ) i have not coloured it. — pulo dooa, lat. 3°. in an old chart it is said there are chasms in the reefs round the island, admitting boats to the watering - place, and that the southern islet consists of a mass of sand and coral. — pulo pisang ; horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 86 ) says that the rocky coral bank, which stretches about forty yards from the shore, is steep to all round : in a chart, also, which i have seen, the island is represented as regularly fringed. pulo mintao is lined with reefs on its west side ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 107 ). — pulo baniak ; the same authority ( vol. ii. p. 105 ), speaking of a part, says it is faced with coral rocks. — minguin, 3° 36 ' n. a coral reef fronts this place, and projects into the sea nearly a quarter of a mile ( notices of the indian arch. published at singapore, p. 105 ). — pulo brassa, 5° 46 ' n. a reef surrounds it at a cable ' s length ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 60 ). i have coloured all the above specified points red. i may here add, that both horsburgh and mr. moor ( in the notices just alluded to ) frequently speak of the numerous reefs and banks of coral on the west coast of sumatra ; but these nowhere have the structure of a barrier - reef, and marsden ( history of sumatra ) states, that where the coast is flat, the fringing reefs extend furthest from it. the northern and


of coral on the west coast of sumatra ; but these nowhere have the structure of a barrier - reef, and marsden ( history of sumatra ) states, that where the coast is flat, the fringing reefs extend furthest from it. the northern and southern points, and the greater part of the east coast, are low, and faced with mud banks, and therefore without coral. nicobar islands. — the chart represents the islands of this group as fringed by reefs. with regard to great nicobar, capt. moresby informs me, that it is fringed by reefs of coral, extending between 200 and 300 yards from the shore. the northern nicobars appear so regularly fringed in the published charts, that i have no doubt the reefs are of coral. this group, therefore, is coloured red. andaman islands. — from an examination of the ms. chart, on a large scale, of this island, by capt. arch. blair, in the admiralty, several portions of the coast appear fringed ; and as horsburgh speaks of coral reefs being numerous in the vicinity of these islands, i should have coloured them red, had not some expressions in a paper in the asiatic researches ( vol. iv. p. 402 ) led me to doubt the existence of reefs ; uncoloured. the coast of malacca, tanasserim, and the coasts northward, appear in the greater part to be low and muddy : where reefs occur, as in parts of malacca straits, and near singapore, they are of the fringing kind ; but the water is so shoal, that i have not coloured them. in the sea, however, between malacca and the west coast of borneo, where there is a greater depth from 40 to 50 fathoms, i have coloured red some of the groups, which are regularly fringed. the northern natunas and the anambas islds. are represented in the charts on a large scale, published in the atlas of the voyage of the favourite, as fringed by reefs of coral, with very shoal water within them. — tumbelan and bunoa islds. ( 1° n. ) are represented in the english charts as surrounded by a very regular fringe. — st. barbes ( 0° 15 ' n. ) is said by horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 279 ) to be fronted by a reef, over which boats can land only at high water. — the shore of borneo at tunjong apee is also fronted by


' n. ) is said by horsburgh ( vol. ii. p. 279 ) to be fronted by a reef, over which boats can land only at high water. — the shore of borneo at tunjong apee is also fronted by a reef, extending not far from the land ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 468 ). these places i have coloured red ; although with some hesitation, as the water is shallow. i might perhaps have added pulo leat, in gaspar str., lucepara and carimata ; but as the sea is confined and shallow, and the reefs not very regular, i have left them uncoloured. the water shoals gradually towards the whole west coast of borneo : i cannot make out that it has any reefs of coral. the islands, however, off the northern extremity, and near the s. w. end of palawan, are fringed by very distant coral reefs : thus the reefs in the case of balabac are no less than five miles from the land ; but the sea, in the whole of this district, is so shallow, that the reefs might be expected to extend very far from the land. i have not, therefore, thought myself authorized to colour them. the n. e. point of borneo, where the water is very shoal, is connected with magindanao by a chain of islands called the sooloo archipelago, about which i have been able to obtain very little information ; pangootaran, although ten miles long, entirely consists of a bed of coral - rock ( notices of e. indian arch. p. 58 ) : i believe from horsburgh that the island is low ; not coloured. — tahow bank, in some old charts, appears like a submerged atoll ; not coloured. forrest ( voyage, p. 21 ) states that one of the islands near sooloo is surrounded by coral rocks ; but there is no distant reef. near the s. end of basselan, some of the islets in the chart accompanying forrest ' s voyage, appear fringed with reefs ; hence i have coloured, though unwillingly, parts of the sooloo group red. the sea between sooloo and palawan, near the shoal coast of borneo is interspersed with irregular reefs and shoal patches ; not coloured : but in the northern part of this sea, there are two low islets, cagayanes and cavilli, surrounded by extensive coral -


near the shoal coast of borneo is interspersed with irregular reefs and shoal patches ; not coloured : but in the northern part of this sea, there are two low islets, cagayanes and cavilli, surrounded by extensive coral - reefs ; the breakers round the latter ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 513 ) extend 5 or 6 miles from a sand - bank, which forms the only dry part ; these breakers are steep to outside ; there appears to be an opening through them on one side, with four or five fathoms within : from this description, i strongly suspect that cavilli ought to be considered an atoll ; but, as i have not seen any chart of it, on even a moderately large scale, i have not coloured it. the islets off the northern end of palawan are in the same case as those off the southern end, namely they are fringed by reefs, some way distant from the shore, but the water is exceedingly shallow ; uncoloured. the western shore of palawan will be treated of under the head of china sea. phillippine archipelago. — a chart on a large scale of appoo shoal, which lies near the s. e. coast of mindoro, has been executed by capt. d. ross : it appears atoll - formed, but with rather an irregular outline ; its diameter is about ten miles ; there are two well defined passages leading into the interior lagoon, which appears open ; close outside the reef all round, there is no bottom with seventy fathoms ; coloured blue. — mindoro : the n. w. coast is represented in several charts, as fringed by a reef ; and luban isld. is said, by horsburgh, ( vol. ii. p. 436 ) to be " lined by a reef. " — luzon : mr. cuming, who has lately investigated with so much success the natural history of the philippines, informs me, that about three miles of the shore north of point st. jago, is fringed by a reef ; as are ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 437 ) the three friars off silanguin bay. between point capones and playa honda, the coast is " lined by a coral reef, stretching out nearly a mile in some places, " ( horsburgh ) ; and mr. cuming visited some fringing reefs on parts of this coast, namely, near puebla, iba, and mans


is " lined by a coral reef, stretching out nearly a mile in some places, " ( horsburgh ) ; and mr. cuming visited some fringing reefs on parts of this coast, namely, near puebla, iba, and mansinglor. in the neighbourhood of solon - solon bay, the shore is lined ( horsburgh, ii. p. 439 ) by coral reefs, stretching out a great way : there are also reefs about the islets off solamague ; and as i am informed by mr. cuming, near st. catalina, and a litle north of it. the same gentleman informs me there are reefs on the s. e. point of this island in front of samar, extending from malalabon to bulusan. these appear to be the principal fringing - reefs on the coasts of luzon ; and they have all been coloured red. mr. cuming informs me that none of them have deep water within ; although it appears from horsburgh that some few extend to a considerable distance from the shore. within the philippine archipelago, the shores of the islands do not appear to be commonly fringed, with the exception of the s. shore of masbate, and nearly the whole of bohol ; which are both coloured red. on the s. shore of magindanao, bunwoot isld. is surrounded ( according to forrest, voyage, p. 253 ), by a coral - reef, which in the chart appears one of the fringing class. with respect to the eastern coasts of the whole archipelago, i have not been able to obtain any account. babuyan islands. — horsburgh says, ( vol. ii. p. 442 ) coral - reefs line the shores of the harbour in fuga ; and the charts show there are other reefs about these islands. camiguin has its shore in parts lined by coral - rock ( horsburgh, p. 443 ) ; about a mile off shore there is between 30 and 35 fathoms. the plan of port san pio quinto shows that its shores are fringed with coral ; coloured red. — bashee islands : horsburgh, speaking of the southern part of the group, ( vol. ii. p. 445 ) says the shores of both islands are fortified by a reef, and through some of the gaps in it, the natives can pass in their boats in fine weather ; the bottom near the land is coral - rock. from the


. p. 445 ) says the shores of both islands are fortified by a reef, and through some of the gaps in it, the natives can pass in their boats in fine weather ; the bottom near the land is coral - rock. from the published charts, it is evident that several of these islands are most regularly fringed ; coloured red. the northern islands are left uncoloured, as i have been unable to find any account of them. — formosa. the shores, especially the western one, seem chiefly composed of mud and sand, and i cannot make out that they are anywhere lined by reefs ; except in a harbour ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 449 ) at the extreme northern point : hence, of course, the whole of this island is left uncoloured. the small adjoining islands are in the same case. — patchow, or madjiko - sima groups. patchuson has been described by capt. broughton ( voy. to the n. pacific, p. 191 ) ; he says, the boats, with some difficulty, found a passage through the coral - reefs, which extend along the coast, nearly half a mile off it. the boats were well sheltered within the reef ; but it does not appear that the water is deep there. outside the reef the depth is very irregular, varying from five to fifty fathoms ; the form of the land is not very abrupt ; coloured red. — taypin - san ; from the description given ( p. 195, ) by the same author, it appears that a very irregular reef extends, to the distance of several miles, from the southern island ; but whether it encircles a space of deep water is not evident ; nor, indeed, whether these outlying reefs are connected with those more immediately adjoining the land ; left uncoloured. i may here just add that the shore of kumi, ( lying west of patchow, ) has a narrow reef attached to it in the plan of it, in la peyrouse ' s atlas ; but it does not appear in the account of the voyage that it is of coral ; uncoloured. — loo choo. the greater part of the coast of this moderately hilly island, is skirted by reefs, which do not extend far from the shore, and which do not leave a channel of deep water within them, as may be seen in the charts accompanying capt. b. hall ' s voyage to loo choo, ( see also remarks in


, which do not extend far from the shore, and which do not leave a channel of deep water within them, as may be seen in the charts accompanying capt. b. hall ' s voyage to loo choo, ( see also remarks in appendix, p. xxi. and xxv. ) there are, however, some ports with deep water, formed by reefs in front of valleys, in the same manner as happens at mauritius. capt. beechey, in a letter to me, compares these reefs with those encircling the society islands ; but there appears to me a marked difference between them, in the less distance at which the loo choo reefs lie from the land with relation to the probable submarine inclination, and in the absence of an interior deep water - moat or channel, parallel to the land. hence, i have classed these reefs with fringing - reefs, and coloured them red. — pescadores ( west of formosa ). dampier ( vol. i. p. 416, ) has compared the appearance of the land to the southern parts of england. the islands are interlaced with coral reefs ; but as the water is very shoal, and as spits of sand and gravel ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 450, ) extend far out from them, it is impossible to draw any inferences regarding the nature of the reefs. china sea. — proceeding from north to south, we first meet the pratas shoal, ( lat. 20° n. ) which, according to horsburgh, ( vol. ii. p. 335, ) is composed of coral, is of a circular form, and has a low islet on it. the reef is on a level with the water ' s edge, and when the sea runs high, there are breakers mostly all round, " but the water within seems pretty deep in some places ; although steep to in most parts outside, there appears to be several parts where a ship might find anchorage outside the breakers ; " coloured blue. — the paracells have been accurately surveyed by capt. d. ross, and charts on a large scale published : but few low islets have been formed on these shoals, and this seems to be a general circumstance in the china sea ; the sea close outside the reefs is very deep ; several of them have a lagoon - like structure ; or separate islets ( prattle, robert, drummond, & c. ) are so arranged round a


be a general circumstance in the china sea ; the sea close outside the reefs is very deep ; several of them have a lagoon - like structure ; or separate islets ( prattle, robert, drummond, & c. ) are so arranged round a moderately shallow space, as to appear as if they had once formed one large atoll. — bombay shoal ( one of the paracells ) has the form of an annular reef, and is " apparently deep within ; " it seems to have an entrance ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 332 ) on its west side ; it is very steep outside. — discovery shoal, also, is of an oval form, with a lagoon - like space within, and three openings leading into it, in which there is a depth from two to twenty fathoms. outside, at the distance ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 333 ) of only twenty yards from the reef, soundings could not be obtained. the paracells are coloured blue. — macclesfield bank : this is a coral bank of great size, lying east of the paracells ; some parts of the bank are level, with a sandy bottom, but, generally, the depth is very irregular. it is intersected by deep cuts or channels. i am not able to perceive in the published charts, ( its limits, however, are not very accurately known ) whether the central part is deeper, which i suspect is the case, as in the great chagos bank, in the indian ocean ; not coloured. — scarborough shoal : this coral shoal is engraved with a double row of crosses, forming a circle, as if there was deep water within the reef : close outside there was no bottom, with a hundred fathoms ; coloured blue. — the sea off the west coast of palawan and the northern part of borneo is strewed with shoals : swallow shoal, according to horsburgh, ( vol. ii. p. 431, ) " is formed, like most of the shoals hereabouts, of a belt of coral - rocks, with a basin of deeper water within. " — half - moon shoal has a similar structure ; capt. d. ross describes it, as a narrow belt of coral - rock, " with a basin of deep water in the centre, " and deep sea close outside. — bombay shoal appears ( horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 432 ) " to be a