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Title: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
Author: Charles Darwin
Release Date: June, 2000 [eBook #2690]
[Most recently updated: January 4, 2022]
Language: English
Produced by: Sue Asscher and David Widger
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORAL REEFS ***
CORAL REEFS
By Charles Darwin
CONTENTS
DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES
THE STRUCTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL REEFS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.—ATOLLS OR LAGOON-ISLANDS
CHAPTER II.—BARRIER REEFS
CHAPTER III.—FRINGING OR SHORE-REEFS
CHAPTER IV.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS
CHAPTER V.—THEORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF
CORAL-REEFS
CHAPTER VI.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS WITH REFERENCE TO THE
THEORY OF THEIR FORMATION
APPENDIX
INDEX
DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.—ATOLLS OR LAGOON-ISLANDS
SECTION I.—DESCRIPTION OF KEELING ATOLL. Corals on the outer
margin.—Zone of Nulliporæ.—Exterior
reef.—Islets.—Coral-conglomerate.—Lagoon.—Calcareous sediment.—Scari
and Holuthuriæ subsisting on corals.—Changes in the condition of the
reefs and islets.— Probable subsidence of the atoll.—Future state of
the lagoon.
SECTION II.—GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ATOLLS
General form and size of atolls, their reefs and islets.—External
slope.— Zone of Nulliporæ.—Conglomerate.—Depth of
lagoons.—Sediment.—Reefs submerged wholly or in part.—Breaches in the
reef.—Ledge-formed shores round certain lagoons.—Conversion of lagoons
into land.
SECTION III.—ATOLLS OF THE MALDIVA ARCHIPELAGO—GREAT CHAGOS BANK
Maldiva Archipelago.—Ring-formed reefs, marginal and central.—Great
depths in the lagoons of the southern atolls.—Reefs in the lagoons all
rising to the surface.—Position of islets and breaches in the reefs,
with respect to the prevalent winds and action of the
waves.—Destruction of islets.—Connection in the position and submarine
foundation of distinct atolls.—The apparent disseverment of large
atolls.—The Great Chagos Bank.—Its submerged condition and
extraordinary structure.
CHAPTER II.—BARRIER REEFS
Closely resemble in general form and structure atoll-reefs.—Width and
depth of the lagoon-channels.—Breaches through the reef in front of
valleys, and generally on the leeward side.—Checks to the filling up of
the lagoon-channels.—Size and constitution of the encircled islands.—
Number of islands within the same reef.—Barrier-reefs of New Caledonia
and Australia.—Position of the reef relative to the slope of the
adjoining land.—Probable great thickness of barrier-reefs.
CHAPTER III.—FRINGING OR SHORE-REEFS
Reefs of Mauritius.—Shallow channel within the reef.—Its slow filling
up.—Currents of water formed within it.—Upraised reefs.—Narrow
fringing-reefs in deep seas.—Reefs on the coast of E. Africa and of
Brazil.—Fringing-reefs in very shallow seas, round banks of sediment
and on worn-down islands.—Fringing-reefs affected by currents of the
sea. —Coral coating the bottom of the sea, but not forming reefs.
CHAPTER IV.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS
SECTION I.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS, AND ON THE CONDITIONS
FAVOURABLE TO THEIR INCREASE.
SECTION II.—ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS.
SECTION III.—ON THE DEPTHS AT WHICH REEF-BUILDING POLYPIFERS CAN LIVE.
CHAPTER V.—THEORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF
CORAL-REEFS
The atolls of the larger archipelagoes are not formed on submerged
craters, or on banks of sediment.—Immense areas interspersed with
atolls.—Recent changes in their state.—The origin of barrier-reefs and
of atolls.—Their relative forms.—The step-formed ledges and walls round
the shores of some lagoons.—The ring-formed reefs of the Maldiva
atolls.—The submerged condition of parts or of the whole of some
annular reefs.—The disseverment of large atolls.—The union of atolls by
linear reefs.—The Great Chagos Bank.—Objections, from the area and
amount of subsidence required by the theory, considered.—The probable
composition of the lower parts of atolls.
CHAPTER VI.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS WITH REFERENCE TO THE
THEORY OF THEIR FORMATION
Description of the coloured map.—Proximity of atolls and
barrier-reefs.— Relation in form and position of atolls with ordinary
islands.—Direct evidence of subsidence difficult to be detected.—Proofs
of recent elevation where fringing-reefs occur.—Oscillations of
level.—Absence of active volcanoes in the areas of
subsidence.—Immensity of the areas which have been elevated and have
subsided.—Their relation to the present distribution of the land.—Areas
of subsidence elongated, their intersection and alternation with those
of elevation.—Amount and slow rate of the subsidence.—Recapitulation.
APPENDIX.
INDEX.
THE STRUCTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL REEFS.
INTRODUCTION.
The object of this volume is to describe from my own observation and
the works of others, the principal kinds of coral-reefs, more
especially those occurring in the open ocean, and to explain the origin
of their peculiar forms. I do not here treat of the polypifers, which
construct these vast works, except so far as relates to their
distribution, and to the conditions favourable to their vigorous
growth. Without any distinct intention to classify coral-reefs, most
voyagers have spoken of them under the following heads:
“lagoon-islands,” or “atolls,” “barrier” or “encircling reefs,” and
“fringing” or “shore-reefs.” The lagoon-islands have received much the
most attention; and it is not surprising, for every one must be struck
with astonishment, when he first beholds one of these vast rings of
coral-rock, often many leagues in diameter, here and there surmounted
by a low verdant island with dazzling white shores, bathed on the
outside by the foaming breakers of the ocean, and on the inside
surrounding a calm expanse of water, which from reflection, is of a
bright but pale green colour. The naturalist will feel this
astonishment more deeply after having examined the soft and almost
gelatinous bodies of these apparently insignificant creatures, and when
he knows that the solid reef increases only on the outer edge, which
day and night is lashed by the breakers of an ocean never at rest. Well
did Francois Pyrard de Laval, in the year 1605, exclaim, “C’est une
merueille de voir chacun de ces atollons, enuironné d’un grand banc de
pierre tout autour, n’y ayant point d’artifice humain.” The
accompanying sketch of Whitsunday island, in the South Pacific, taken
from Captain Beechey’s admirable “Voyage,” although excellent of its
kind, gives but a faint idea of the singular aspect of one of these
lagoon-islands.
[Illustration]
Whitsunday Island is of small size, and the whole circle has been
converted into land, which is a comparatively rare circumstance. As the
reef of a lagoon-island generally supports many separate small islands,
the word “island,” applied to the whole, is often the cause of
confusion; hence I have invariably used in this volume the term
“atoll,” which is the name given to these circular groups of
coral-islets by their inhabitants in the Indian Ocean, and is
synonymous with “lagoon-island.”
[Illustration]
Barrier-reefs, when encircling small islands, have been comparatively
little noticed by voyagers; but they well deserve attention. In their
structure they are little less marvellous than atolls, and they give a
singular and most picturesque character to the scenery of the islands
they surround. In the accompanying sketch, taken from the “Voyage of
the ‘Coquille’,” the reef is seen from within, from one of the high
peaks of the island of Bolabola.[1] Here, as in Whitsunday Island, the whole of that part of
the reef which is visible is converted into land. This is a
circumstance of rare occurrence; more usually a snow-white line of
great breakers, with here and there an islet crowned by cocoa-nut
trees, separates the smooth waters of the lagoon-like channel from the
waves of the open sea. The barrier-reefs of Australia and of New
Caledonia, owing to their enormous dimensions, have excited much
attention: in structure and form they resemble those encircling many of
the smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean.
[1] I have taken the liberty of simplifying the foreground, and
leaving out a mountainous island in the far distance.
With respect to fringing, or shore-reefs, there is little in their
structure which needs explanation; and their name expresses their
comparatively small extension. They differ from barrier-reefs in not
lying so far from the shore, and in not having within a broad channel
of deep water. Reefs also occur around submerged banks of sediment and
of worn-down rock; and others are scattered quite irregularly where the
sea is very shallow; these in most respects are allied to those of the
fringing class, but they are of comparatively little interest.
I have given a separate chapter to each of the above classes, and have
described some one reef or island, on which I possessed most
information, as typical; and have afterwards compared it with others of
a like kind. Although this classification is useful from being obvious,
and from including most of the coral-reefs existing in the open sea, it
admits of a more fundamental division into barrier and atoll-formed
reefs on the one hand, where there is a great apparent difficulty with
respect to the foundation on which they must first have grown; and into
fringing-reefs on the other, where, owing to the nature of the slope of
the adjoining land, there is no such difficulty. The two blue tints and
the red colour (replaced by numbers in this edition.) on the map (Plate
III.), represent this main division, as explained in the beginning of
the last chapter. In the Appendix, every existing coral-reef, except
some on the coast of Brazil not included in the map, is briefly
described in geographical order, as far as I possessed information; and
any particular spot may be found by consulting the Index.
Several theories have been advanced to explain the origin of atolls or
lagoon-islands, but scarcely one to account for barrier-reefs. From the
limited depths at which reef-building polypifers can flourish, taken
into consideration with certain other circumstances, we are compelled
to conclude, as it will be seen, that both in atolls and barrier-reefs,
the foundation on which the coral was primarily attached, has subsided;
and that during this downward movement, the reefs have grown upwards.
This conclusion, it will be further seen, explains most satisfactorily
the outline and general form of atolls and barrier-reefs, and likewise
certain peculiarities in their structure. The distribution, also, of
the different kinds of coral-reefs, and their position with relation to
the areas of recent elevation, and to the points subject to volcanic
eruptions, fully accord with this theory of their origin.[2]
[2] A brief account of my views on coral formations, now published
in my Journal of Researches, was read May 31st, 1837, before the
Geological Society, and an abstract has appeared in the
Proceedings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE I.—MAP SHOWING THE RESEMBLANCE IN FORM BETWEEN BARRIER
CORAL-REEFS SURROUNDING MOUNTAINOUS ISLANDS, AND ATOLLS OR LAGOON
ISLANDS.
In the several original surveys, from which the small plans on this
plate have been reduced, the coral-reefs are engraved in very different
styles. For the sake of uniformity, I have adopted the style used in
the charts of the Chagos Archipelago, published by the East Indian
Company, from the survey by Captain Moresby and Lieutenant Powell. The
surface of the reef, which dries at low water, is represented by a
surface with small crosses: the coral-islets on the reef are marked by
small linear spaces, on which a few cocoa-nut trees, out of all
proportion too large, have been introduced for the sake of clearness.
The entire ANNULAR REEF, which when surrounding an open expanse of
water, forms an “atoll,” and when surrounding one or more high islands,
forms an encircling “barrier-reef,” has a nearly uniform structure. The
reefs in some of the original surveys are represented merely by a
single line with crosses, so that their breadth is not given; I have
had such reefs engraved of the width usually attained by coral-reefs. I
have not thought it worth while to introduce all those small and very
numerous reefs, which occur within the lagoons of most atolls and
within the lagoon-channels of most barrier-reefs, and which stand
either isolated, or are attached to the shores of the reef or land. At
Peros Banhos none of the lagoon-reefs rise to the surface of the water;
a few of them have been introduced, and are marked by plain dotted
circles. A few of the deepest soundings are laid down within each reef;
they are in fathoms, of six English feet.
Figure 1.—VANIKORO, situated in the western part of the South Pacific;
taken from the survey by Captain D’Urville in the “Astrolabe;” the
soundings on the southern side of the island, namely, from thirty to
forty fathoms, are given from the voyage of the Chev. Dillon; the other
soundings are laid down from the survey by D’Urville; height of the
summit of the island is 3,032 feet. The principal small detached reefs
within the lagoon-channel have in this instance been represented. The
southern shore of the island is narrowly fringed by a reef: if the
engraver had carried this reef entirely round both islands, this figure
would have served (by leaving out in imagination the barrier-reef) as a
good specimen of an abruptly-sided island, surrounded by a reef of the
fringing class.
Figure 2.—HOGOLEU, or ROUG, in the Caroline Archipelago; taken from the
“Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe,’” compiled from the surveys of
Captains Duperrey and D’Urville; the depth of the immense lagoon-like
space within the reef is not known.
Figure 3.—RAIATEA, in the Society Archipelago; from the map given in
the quarto edition of “Cook’s First Voyage;” it is probably not
accurate.
Figure 4.—BOW, or HEYOU ATOLL (or lagoon-island), in the Low
Archipelago, from the survey by Captain Beechey, R.N.; the lagoon is
choked up with reefs, but the average greatest depth of about twenty
fathoms, is given from the published account of the voyage.
Figure 5.—BOLABOLA, in the Society Archipelago, from the survey of
Captain Duperrey in the “Coquille:” the soundings in this and the
following figures have been altered from French feet to English
fathoms; height of highest point of the island 4,026 feet.
Figure 6.—MAURUA, in the Society Archipelago; from the survey by
Captain Duperrey in the “Coquille:” height of land about eight hundred
feet.
Figure 7.—POUYNIPETE, or SENIAVINE, in the Caroline Archipelago; from
the survey by Admiral Lutke.
Figure 8.—GAMBIER ISLANDS, in the southern part of the Low Archipelago;
from the survey by Captain Beechey; height of highest island, 1,246
feet; the islands are surrounded by extensive and irregular reefs; the
reef on the southern side is submerged.
Figure 9.—PEROS BANHOS ATOLL (or lagoon-island), in the Chagos group in
the Indian Ocean; from the survey by Captain Moresby and Lieutenant
Powell; not nearly all the small submerged reefs in the lagoon are
represented; the annular reef on the southern side is submerged.
Figure 10.—KEELING, or COCOS ATOLL (or lagoon-island), in the Indian
Ocean; from the survey by Captain Fitzroy; the lagoon south of the
dotted line is very shallow, and is left almost bare at low water; the
part north of the line is choked up with irregular reefs. The annular
reef on the north-west side is broken, and blends into a shoal
sandbank, on which the sea breaks.
PLATE II.—GREAT CHAGOS BANK, NEW CALEDONIA, MENCHIKOFF ATOLL, ETC.
FIGURE 1.—GREAT CHAGOS BANK, in the Indian Ocean; taken from the survey
by Captain Moresby and Lieutenant Powell; the parts which are shaded,
with the exception of two or three islets on the western and northern
sides, do not rise to the surface, but are submerged from four to ten
fathoms; the banks bounded by the dotted lines lie from fifteen to
twenty fathoms beneath the surface, and are formed of sand; the central
space is of mud, and from thirty to fifty fathoms deep.
FIGURE 2.—A vertical section, on the same scale, in an eastern and
western line across the Great Chagos Bank, given for the sake of
exhibiting more clearly its structure.
FIGURE 3.—MENCHIKOFF ATOLL (or lagoon-island), in the Marshall
Archipelago, Northern Pacific Ocean; from Krusenstern’s “Atlas of the
Pacific;” originally surveyed by Captain Hagemeister; the depth within
the lagoons is unknown.
FIGURE 4.—MAHLOS MAHDOO ATOLL, together with Horsburgh atoll, in the
Maldiva Archipelago; from the survey by Captain Moresby and Lieutenant
Powell; the white spaces in the middle of the separate small reefs,
both on the margin and in the middle part, are meant to represent
little lagoons; but it was found not possible to distinguish them
clearly from the small islets, which have been formed on these same
small reefs; many of the smaller reefs could not be introduced; the
nautical mark (dot over a dash) over the figures 250 and 200, between
Mahlos Mahdoo and Horsburgh atoll and Powell’s island, signifies that
soundings were not obtained at these depths.
FIGURE 5.—NEW CALEDONIA, in the western part of the Pacific; from
Krusenstern’s “Atlas,” compiled from several surveys; I have slightly
altered the northern point of the reef, in accordance with the “Atlas
of the Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’.” In Krusenstern’s “Atlas,” the reef
is represented by a single line with crosses; I have for the sake of
uniformity added an interior line.
FIGURE 6.—MALDIVA ARCHIPELAGO, in the Indian Ocean; from the survey by
Captain Moresby and Lieutenant Powell.
PLATE III.—MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS AND ACTIVE
VOLCANOES.
The principles, on which this map was coloured, are explained in the
beginning of Chapter VI.; and the authorities for each particular spot
are detailed in the Appendix to “Coral Reefs.” The names not printed in
upper case in the Index refer to the Appendix.
CHAPTER I.
ATOLLS OR LAGOON-ISLANDS.
SECTION I.—KEELING ATOLL.
Corals on the outer margin.—Zone of Nulliporæ.—Exterior
reef.—Islets.—Coral-conglomerate.—Lagoon.—Calcareous sediment.—Scari
and Holuthuriæ subsisting on corals.—Changes in the condition of the
reefs and islets.—Probable subsidence of the atoll.—Future state of the
lagoon.
[Illustration]
A.—Level of the sea at low water: where the letter A is placed, the
depth is twenty-five fathoms, and the distance rather more than one
hundred and fifty yards from the edge of the reef.
B.—Outer edge of that flat part of the reef, which dries at low water:
the edge either consists of a convex mound, as represented, or of
rugged points, like those a little farther seaward, beneath the water.
C.—A flat of coral-rock, covered at high water.
D.—A low projecting ledge of brecciated coral-rock washed by the waves
at high water.
E.—A slope of loose fragments, reached by the sea only during gales:
the upper part, which is from six to twelve feet high, is clothed with
vegetation. The surface of the islet gently slopes to the lagoon.
F.—Level of the lagoon at low water.
Keeling or Cocos atoll is situated in the Indian Ocean, in 12° 5′ S.,
and longitude 90° 55′ E.: a reduced chart of it was made from the
survey of Captain Fitzroy and the Officers of H.M.S. “Beagle,” is given
in Plate I., Figure 10. The greatest width of this atoll is nine miles
and a half. Its structure is in most respects characteristic of the
class to which it belongs, with the exception of the shallowness of the
lagoon. The accompanying woodcut represents a vertical section,
supposed to be drawn at low water from the outer coast across one of
the low islets (one being taken of average dimensions) to within the
lagoon.
The section is true to the scale in a horizontal line, but it could not
be made so in a vertical one, as the average greatest height of the
land is only between six and twelve feet above high-water mark.
I will describe the section, commencing with the outer margin. I must
first observe that the reef-building polypifers, not being tidal
animals, require to be constantly submerged or washed by the breakers.
I was assured by Mr. Liesk, a very intelligent resident on these
islands, as well as by some chiefs at Tahiti (Otaheite), that an
exposure to the rays of the sun for a very short time invariably causes
their destruction. Hence it is possible only under the most favourable
circumstances, afforded by an unusually low tide and smooth water, to
reach the outer margin, where the coral is alive. I succeeded only
twice in gaining this part, and found it almost entirely composed of a
living Porites, which forms great irregularly rounded masses (like
those of an Astræa, but larger) from four to eight feet broad, and
little less in thickness. These mounds are separated from each other by
narrow crooked channels, about six feet deep, most of which intersect
the line of reef at right angles. On the furthest mound, which I was
able to reach by the aid of a leaping-pole, and over which the sea
broke with some violence, although the day was quite calm and the tide
low, the polypifers in the uppermost cells were all dead, but between
three and four inches lower down on its side they were living, and
formed a projecting border round the upper and dead surface. The coral
being thus checked in its upward growth, extends laterally, and hence
most of the masses, especially those a little further inwards, had
broad flat dead summits. On the other hand I could see, during the
recoil of the breakers, that a few yards further seaward, the whole
convex surface of the Porites was alive; so that the point where we
were standing was almost on the exact upward and shoreward limit of
existence of those corals which form the outer margin of the reef. We
shall presently see that there are other organic productions, fitted to
bear a somewhat longer exposure to the air and sun.
Next, but much inferior in importance to the Porites, is the _Millepora
complanata_. (This Millepora (Palmipora of Blainville), as well as the
_M. alcicornis_, possesses the singular property of stinging the skin
where it is delicate, as on the face and arm.)
It grows in thick vertical plates, intersecting each other at various
angles, and forms an exceedingly strong honeycombed mass, which
generally affects a circular form, the marginal plates alone being
alive. Between these plates and in the protected crevices on the reef,
a multitude of branching zoophytes and other productions flourish, but
the Porites and Millepora alone seem able to resist the fury of the
breakers on its upper and outer edge: at the depth of a few fathoms
other kinds of stony corals live. Mr. Liesk, who was intimately
acquainted with every part of this reef, and likewise with that of
North Keeling atoll, assured me that these corals invariably compose
the outer margin. The lagoon is inhabited by quite a distinct set of
corals, generally brittle and thinly branched; but a Porites,
apparently of the same species with that on the outside, is found
there, although it does not seem to thrive, and certainly does not
attain the thousandth part in bulk of the masses opposed to the
breakers.
The woodcut shows the form of the bottom off the reef: the water
deepens for a space between one and two hundred yards wide, very
gradually to twenty-five fathoms (A in section), beyond which the sides
plunge into the unfathomable ocean at an angle of 45°. (The soundings
from which this section is laid down were taken with great care by
Captain Fitzroy himself. He used a bell-shaped lead, having a diameter
of four inches, and the armings each time were cut off and brought on
board for me to examine. The arming is a preparation of tallow, placed
in the concavity at the bottom of the lead. Sand, and even small
fragments of rock, will adhere to it; and if the bottom be of rock it
brings up an exact impression of its surface.) To the depth of ten or
twelve fathoms the bottom is exceedingly rugged, and seems formed of
great masses of living coral, similar to those on the margin. The
arming of the lead here invariably came up quite clean, but deeply
indented, and chains and anchors which were lowered, in the hopes of
tearing up the coral, were broken. Many small fragments, however, of
_Millepora alcicornis_ were brought up; and on the arming from an
eight-fathom cast, there was a perfect impression of an Astræa,
apparently alive. I examined the rolled fragments cast on the beach
during gales, in order further to ascertain what corals grew outside
the reef. The fragments consisted of many kinds, of which the Porites
already mentioned and a Madrepora, apparently the _M. corymbosa_, were
the most abundant. As I searched in vain in the hollows on the reef and
in the lagoon, for a living specimen of this Madrepore, I conclude that
it is confined to a zone outside, and beneath the surface, where it
must be very abundant. Fragments of the _Millepora alcicornis_ and of
an Astræa were also numerous; the former is found, but not in
proportionate numbers, in the hollows on the reef; but the Astræa I
did not see living. Hence we may infer, that these are the kinds of
coral which form the rugged sloping surface (represented in the woodcut
by an uneven line), round and beneath the external margin. Between
twelve and twenty fathoms the arming came up an equal number of times
smoothed with sand, and indented with coral: an anchor and lead were
lost at the respective depths of thirteen and sixteen fathoms. Out of
twenty-five soundings taken at a greater depth than twenty fathoms,
every one showed that the bottom was covered with sand; whereas, at a
less depth than twelve fathoms, every sounding showed that it was
exceedingly rugged, and free from all extraneous particles. Two
soundings were obtained at the depth of 360 fathoms, and several
between two hundred and three hundred fathoms. The sand brought up from
these depths consisted of finely triturated fragments of stony
zoophytes, but not, as far as I could distinguish, of a particle of any
lamelliform genus: fragments of shells were rare.
At a distance of 2,200 yards from the breakers, Captain Fitzroy found
no bottom with a line of 7,200 feet in length; hence the submarine
slope of this coral formation is steeper than that of any volcanic
cone. Off the mouth of the lagoon, and likewise off the northern point
of the atoll, where the currents act violently, the inclination, owing
to the accumulation of sediment, is less. As the arming of the lead
from all the greater depths showed a smooth sandy bottom, I at first
concluded that the whole consisted of a vast conical pile of calcareous
sand, but the sudden increase of depth at some points, and the
circumstance of the line having been cut, as if rubbed, when between
five hundred and six hundred fathoms were out, indicate the probable
existence of submarine cliffs.
On the margin of the reef, close within the line where the upper
surface of the Porites and of the Millepora is dead, three species of
Nullipora flourish. One grows in thin sheets, like a lichen on old
trees; the second in stony knobs, as thick as a man’s finger, radiating
from a common centre; and the third, which is less common, in a
moss-like reticulation of thin, but perfectly rigid branches. (This
last species is of a beautiful bright peach-blossom colour. Its
branches are about as thick as crow-quills; they are slightly flattened
and knobbed at the extremities. The extremities only are alive and
brightly coloured. The two other species are of a dirty purplish-white.
The second species is extremely hard; its short knob-like branches are
cylindrical, and do not grow thicker at their extremities.) The three
species occur either separately or mingled together; and they form by
their successive growth a layer two or three feet in thickness, which
in some cases is hard, but where formed of the lichen-like kind,
readily yields an impression to the hammer: the surface is of a reddish
colour. These Nulliporæ, although able to exist above the limit of
true corals, seem to require to be bathed during the greater part of
each tide by breaking water, for they are not found in any abundance in
the protected hollows on the back part of the reef, where they might be
immersed either during the whole or an equal proportional time of each
tide. It is remarkable that organic productions of such extreme
simplicity, for the Nulliporæ undoubtedly belong to one of the lowest
classes of the vegetable kingdom, should be limited to a zone so
peculiarly circumstanced. Hence the layer composed by their growth
merely fringes the reef for a space of about twenty yards in width,
either under the form of separate mammillated projections, where the
outer masses of coral are separate, or, more commonly, where the corals
are united into a solid margin, as a continuous smooth convex mound (B
in woodcut), like an artificial breakwater. Both the mound and
mammillated projections stand about three feet higher than any other
part of the reef, by which term I do not include the islets, formed by
the accumulation of rolled fragments. We shall hereafter see that other
coral reefs are protected by a similar thick growth of Nulliporæ on
the outer margin, the part most exposed to the breakers, and this must
effectually aid in preserving it from being worn down.
The woodcut represents a section across one of the islets on the reef,
but if all that part which is above the level of C were removed, the
section would be that of a simple reef, as it occurs where no islet has
been formed. It is this reef which essentially forms the atoll. It is a
ring, enclosing the lagoon on all sides except at the northern end,
where there are two open spaces, through one of which ships can enter.
The reef varies in width from two hundred and fifty to five hundred
yards, its surface is level, or very slightly inclined towards the
lagoon, and at high tide the sea breaks entirely over it: the water at
low tide thrown by the breakers on the reef, is carried by the many
narrow and shoal gullies or channels on its surface, into the lagoon: a
return stream sets out of the lagoon through the main entrance. The
most frequent coral in the hollows on the reef is Pocillopora
verrucosa, which grows in short sinuous plates, or branches, and when
alive is of a beautiful pale lake-red: a Madrepora, closely allied or
identical with M. pocillifera, is also common. As soon as an islet is
formed, and the waves are prevented breaking entirely over the reef,
the channels and hollows in it become filled up with cemented
fragments, and its surface is converted into a hard smooth floor (C of
woodcut), like an artificial one of freestone. This flat surface varies
in width from one hundred to two hundred, or even three hundred yards,
and is strewed with a few large fragments of coral torn up during
gales: it is uncovered only at low water. I could with difficulty, and
only by the aid of a chisel, procure chips of rock from its surface,
and therefore could not ascertain how much of it is formed by the
aggregation of detritus, and how much by the outward growth of mounds
of corals, similar to those now living on the margin. Nothing can be
more singular than the appearance at low tide of this “flat” of naked
stone, especially where it is externally bounded by the smooth convex
mound of Nulliporæ, appearing like a breakwater built to resist the
waves, which are constantly throwing over it sheets of foaming water.
The characteristic appearance of this “flat” is shown in the foregoing
woodcut of Whitsunday atoll.
The islets on the reef are first formed between two hundred and three
hundred yards from its outer edge, through the accumulation of a pile
of fragments, thrown together by some unusually strong gale. Their
ordinary width is under a quarter of a mile, and their length varies
from a few yards to several miles. Those on the south-east and windward
side of the atoll, increase solely by the addition of fragments on
their outer side; hence the loose blocks of coral, of which their
surface is composed, as well as the shells mingled with them, almost
exclusively consist of those kinds which live on the outer coast. The
highest part of the islets (excepting hillocks of blown sand, some of
which are thirty feet high), is close to the outer beach (E of the
woodcut), and averages from six to ten feet above ordinary high-water
mark. From the outer beach the surface slopes gently to the shores of
the lagoon, which no doubt has been caused by the breakers the further
they have rolled over the reef, having had less power to throw up
fragments. The little waves of the lagoon heap up sand and fragments of
thinly-branched corals on the inner side of the islets on the leeward
side of the atoll; and these islets are broader than those to windward,
some being even eight hundred yards in width; but the land thus added
is very low. The fragments beneath the surface are cemented into a
solid mass, which is exposed as a ledge (D of the woodcut), projecting
some yards in front of the outer shore and from two to four feet high.
This ledge is just reached by the waves at ordinary high-water: it
extends in front of all the islets, and everywhere has a water-worn and
scooped appearance. The fragments of coral which are occasionally cast
on the “flat” are during gales of unusual violence swept together on
the beach, where the waves each day at high-water tend to remove and
gradually wear them down; but the lower fragments having become firmly
cemented together by the percolation of calcareous matter, resist the
daily tides longer, and hence project as a ledge. The cemented mass is
generally of a white colour, but in some few parts reddish from
ferruginous matter; it is very hard, and is sonorous under the hammer;
it is obscurely divided by seams, dipping at a small angle seaward; it
consists of fragments of the corals which grow on the outer margin,
some quite and others partially rounded, some small and others between
two and three feet across; and of masses of previously formed
conglomerate, torn up, rounded, and re-cemented; or it consists of a
calcareous sandstone, entirely composed of rounded particles, generally
almost blended together, of shells, corals, the spines of echini, and
other such organic bodies; rocks, of this latter kind, occur on many
shores, where there are no coral reefs. The structure of the coral in
the conglomerate has generally been much obscured by the infiltration
of spathose calcareous matter; and I collected a very interesting
series, beginning with fragments of unaltered coral, and ending with
others, where it was impossible to discover with the naked eye any
trace of organic structure. In some specimens I was unable, even with
the aid of a lens, and by wetting them, to distinguish the boundaries
of the altered coral and spathose limestone. Many even of the blocks of
coral lying loose on the beach, had their central parts altered and
infiltrated.
The lagoon alone remains to be described; it is much shallower than
that of most atolls of considerable size. The southern part is almost
filled up with banks of mud and fields of coral, both dead and alive,
but there are considerable spaces, between three and four fathoms, and
smaller basins, from eight to ten fathoms deep. Probably about half its
area consists of sediment, and half of coral-reefs. The corals
composing these reefs have a very different aspect from those on the
outside; they are very numerous in kind, and most of them are thinly
branched. Meandrina, however, lives in the lagoon, and great rounded
masses of this coral are numerous, lying quite or almost loose on the
bottom. The other commonest kinds consist of three closely allied
species of true Madrepora in thin branches; of Seriatapora subulata;
two species of Porites (This Porites has somewhat the habit of P.
clavaria, but the branches are not knobbed at their ends. When alive it
is of a yellow colour, but after having been washed in fresh water and
placed to dry, a jet-black slimy substance exuded from the entire
surface, so that the specimen now appears as if it had been dipped in
ink.) with cylindrical branches, one of which forms circular clumps,
with the exterior branches only alive; and lastly, a coral something
like an Explanaria, but with stars on both surfaces, growing in thin,
brittle, stony, foliaceous expansions, especially in the deeper basins
of the lagoon. The reefs on which these corals grow are very irregular
in form, are full of cavities, and have not a solid flat surface of
dead rock, like that surrounding the lagoon; nor can they be nearly so
hard, for the inhabitants made with crowbars a channel of considerable
length through these reefs, in which a schooner, built on the S.E.
islet, was floated out. It is a very interesting circumstance, pointed
out to us by Mr. Liesk, that this channel, although made less than ten
years before our visit, was then, as we saw, almost choked up with
living coral, so that fresh excavations would be absolutely necessary
to allow another vessel to pass through it.
The sediment from the deepest parts in the lagoon, when wet, appeared
chalky, but when dry, like very fine sand. Large soft banks of similar,
but even finer grained mud, occur on the S.E. shore of the lagoon,
affording a thick growth of a Fucus, on which turtle feed: this mud,
although discoloured by vegetable matter, appears from its entire
solution in acids to be purely calcareous. I have seen in the Museum of
the Geological Society, a similar but more remarkable substance,
brought by Lieutenant Nelson from the reefs of Bermuda, which, when
shown to several experienced geologists, was mistaken by them for true
chalk. On the outside of the reef much sediment must be formed by the
action of the surf on the rolled fragments of coral; but in the calm
waters of the lagoon, this can take place only in a small degree. There
are, however, other and unexpected agents at work here: large shoals of
two species of Scarus, one inhabiting the surf outside the reef and the
other the lagoon, subsist entirely, as I was assured by Mr. Liesk, the
intelligent resident before referred to, by browsing on the living
polypifers. I opened several of these fish, which are very numerous and
of considerable size, and I found their intestines distended by small
pieces of coral, and finely ground calcareous matter. This must daily
pass from them as the finest sediment; much also must be produced by
the infinitely numerous vermiform and molluscous animals, which make
cavities in almost every block of coral. Dr. J. Allan, of Forres, who
has enjoyed the best means of observation, informs me in a letter that
the Holothuriae (a family of Radiata) subsist on living coral; and the
singular structure of bone within the anterior extremity of their
bodies, certainly appears well adapted for this purpose. The number of
the species of Holothuria, and of the individuals which swarm on every
part of these coral-reefs, is extraordinarily great; and many shiploads
are annually freighted, as is well-known, for China with the trepang,
which is a species of this genus. The amount of coral yearly consumed,
and ground down into the finest mud, by these several creatures, and
probably by many other kinds, must be immense. These facts are,
however, of more importance in another point of view, as showing us
that there are living checks to the growth of coral-reefs, and that the
almost universal law of “consumed and be consumed,” holds good even
with the polypifers forming those massive bulwarks, which are able to
withstand the force of the open ocean.
Considering that Keeling atoll, like other coral formations, has been
entirely formed by the growth of organic beings, and the accumulation
of their detritus, one is naturally led to inquire how long it has
continued, and how long it is likely to continue, in its present state.
Mr. Liesk informed me that he had seen an old chart in which the
present long island on the S.E. side was divided by several channels
into as many islets; and he assures me that the channels can still be
distinguished by the smaller size of the trees on them. On several
islets, also, I observed that only young cocoa-nut trees were growing
on the extremities; and that older and taller trees rose in regular
succession behind them; which shows that these islets have very lately
increased in length. In the upper and south-eastern part of the lagoon,
I was much surprised by finding an irregular field of at least a mile
square of branching corals, still upright, but entirely dead. They
consisted of the species already mentioned; they were of a brown
colour, and so rotten, that in trying to stand on them I sank halfway
up the leg, as if through decayed brushwood. The tops of the branches
were barely covered by water at the time of lowest tide. Several facts
having led me to disbelieve in any elevation of the whole atoll, I was
at first unable to imagine what cause could have killed so large a
field of coral. Upon reflection, however, it appeared to me that the
closing up of the above-mentioned channels would be a sufficient cause;
for before this, a strong breeze by forcing water through them into the
head of the lagoon, would tend to raise its level. But now this cannot
happen, and the inhabitants observe that the tide rises to a less
height, during a high S.E. wind, at the head than at the mouth of the
lagoon. The corals, which, under the former condition of things, had
attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth, would thus
occasionally be exposed for a short time to the sun, and be killed.
Besides the increase of dry land, indicated by the foregoing facts, the
exterior solid reef appears to have grown outwards. On the western side
of the atoll, the “flat” lying between the margin of the reef and the
beach, is very wide; and in front of the regular beach with its
conglomerate basis, there is, in most parts, a bed of sand and loose
fragments with trees growing out of it, which apparently is not reached
even by the spray at high water. It is evident some change has taken
place since the waves formed the inner beach; that they formerly beat
against it with violence was evident, from a remarkably thick and
water-worn point of conglomerate at one spot, now protected by
vegetation and a bank of sand; that they beat against it in the same
peculiar manner in which the swell from windward now obliquely curls
round the margin of the reef, was evident from the conglomerate having
been worn into a point projecting from the beach in a similarly oblique
manner. This retreat in the line of action of the breakers might
result, either from the surface of the reef in front of the islets
having been submerged at one time, and afterward having grown upwards,
or from the mounds of coral on the margin having continued to grow
outwards. That an outward growth of this part is in process, can hardly
be doubted from the fact already mentioned of the mounds of Porites
with their summits apparently lately killed, and their sides only three
or four inches lower down thickened by a fresh layer of living coral.
But there is a difficulty on this supposition which I must not pass
over. If the whole, or a large part of the “flat,” had been formed by
the outward growth of the margin, each successive margin would
naturally have been coated by the Nulliporæ, and so much of the
surface would have been of equal height with the existing zone of
living Nulliporæ: this is not the case, as may be seen in the woodcut.
It is, however, evident from the abraded state of the “flat,” with its
original inequalities filled up, that its surface has been much
modified; and it is possible that the hinder portions of the zone of
Nulliporæ, perishing as the reef grows outwards, might be worn down by
the surf. If this has not taken place, the reef can in no part have
increased outwards in breadth since its formation, or at least since
the Nulliporæ formed the convex mound on its margin; for the zone thus
formed, and which stands between two and three feet above the other
parts of the reef, is nowhere much above twenty yards in width.
Thus far we have considered facts, which indicate, with more or less
probability, the increase of the atoll in its different parts: there
are others having an opposite tendency. On the south-east side,
Lieutenant Sulivan, to whose kindness I am indebted for many
interesting observations, found the conglomerate projecting on the reef
nearly fifty yards in front of the beach: we may infer from what we see
in all other parts of the atoll, that the conglomerate was not
originally so much exposed, but formed the base of an islet, the front
and upper part of which has since been swept away. The degree to which
the conglomerate, round nearly the whole atoll, has been scooped,
broken up, and the fragments cast on the beach, is certainly very
surprising, even on the view that it is the office of occasional gales
to pile up fragments, and of the daily tides to wear them away. On the
western side, also, of the atoll, where I have described a bed of sand
and fragments with trees growing out of it, in front of an old beach,
it struck both Lieutenant Sulivan and myself, from the manner in which
the trees were being washed down, that the surf had lately recommenced
an attack on this line of coast. Appearances indicating a slight
encroachment of the water on the land, are plainer within the lagoon: I
noticed in several places, both on its windward and leeward shores, old
cocoa-nut trees falling with their roots undermined, and the rotten
stumps of others on the beach, where the inhabitants assured us the
cocoa-nut could not now grow. Captain Fitzroy pointed out to me, near
the settlement, the foundation posts of a shed, now washed by every
tide, but which the inhabitants stated, had seven years before stood
above high watermark. In the calm waters of the lagoon, directly
connected with a great, and therefore stable ocean, it seems very
improbable that a change in the currents, sufficiently great to cause
the water to eat into the land on all sides, should have taken place
within a limited period. From these considerations I inferred, that
probably the atoll had lately subsided to a small amount; and this
inference was strengthened by the circumstance, that in 1834, two years
before our visit, the island had been shaken by a severe earthquake,
and by two slighter ones during the ten previous years. If, during
these subterranean disturbances, the atoll did subside, the downward
movement must have been very small, as we must conclude from the fields
of dead coral still lipping the surface of the lagoon, and from the
breakers on the western shore not having yet regained the line of their
former action. The subsidence must, also, have been preceded by a long
period of rest, during which the islets extended to their present size,
and the living margin of the reef grew either upwards, or as I believe
outwards, to its present distance from the beach.
Whether this view be correct or not, the above facts are worthy of
attention, as showing how severe a struggle is in progress on these low
coral formations between the two nicely balanced powers of land and
water. With respect to the future state of Keeling atoll, if left
undisturbed, we can see that the islets may still extend in length; but
as they cannot resist the surf until broken by rolling over a wide
space, their increase in breadth must depend on the increasing breadth
of the reef; and this must be limited by the steepness of the submarine
flanks, which can be added to only by sediment derived from the wear
and tear of the coral. From the rapid growth of the coral in the
channel cut for the schooner, and from the several agents at work in
producing fine sediment, it might be thought that the lagoon would
necessarily become quickly filled up. Some of this sediment, however,
is transported into the open sea, as appears from the soundings off the
mouth of the lagoon, instead of being deposited within it. The
deposition, moreover, of sediment, checks the growth of coral-reefs, so
that these two agencies cannot act together with full effect in filling
it up. We know so little of the habits of the many different species of
corals, which form the lagoon-reefs, that we have no more reasons for
supposing that their whole surface would grow up as quickly as the
coral did in the schooner-channel, than for supposing that the whole
surface of a peat-moss would increase as quickly as parts are known to
do in holes, where the peat has been cut away. These agencies,
nevertheless, tend to fill up the lagoon; but in proportion as it
becomes shallower, so must the polypifers be subject to many injurious
agencies, such as impure water and loss of food. For instance, Mr.
Liesk informed me, that some years before our visit unusually heavy
rain killed nearly all the fish in the lagoon, and probably the same
cause would likewise injure the corals. The reefs also, it must be
remembered, cannot possibly rise above the level of the lowest
spring-tide, so that the final conversion of the lagoon into land must
be due to the accumulation of sediment; and in the midst of the clear
water of the ocean, and with no surrounding high land, this process
must be exceedingly slow.
SECTION II.—GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ATOLLS.
General form and size of atolls, their reefs and islets.—External
slope.— Zone of Nulliporæ.—Conglomerate.—Depth of
lagoons.—Sediment.—Reefs submerged wholly or in part.—Breaches in the
reef.—Ledge-formed shores round certain lagoons.—Conversion of lagoons
into land.
I will here give a sketch of the general form and structure of the many
atolls and atoll-formed reefs which occur in the Pacific and Indian
Oceans, comparing them with Keeling atoll. The Maldiva atolls and the
Great Chagos Bank differ in so many respects, that I shall devote to
them, besides occasional references, a third section of this chapter.
Keeling atoll may be considered as of moderate dimensions and of
regular form. Of the thirty-two islands surveyed by Captain Beechey in
the Low Archipelago, the longest was found to be thirty miles, and the
shortest less than a mile; but Vliegen atoll, situated in another part
of the same group, appears to be sixty miles long and twenty broad.
Most of the atolls in this group are of an elongated form; thus Bow
Island is thirty miles in length, and on an average only six in width
(See Figure 4, Plate I.), and Clermont Tonnere has nearly the same
proportions. In the Marshall Archipelago (the Ralick and Radack group
of Kotzebue) several of the atolls are more than thirty miles in
length, and Rimsky Korsacoff is fifty-four long, and twenty wide, at
the broadest part of its irregular outline. Most of the atolls in the
Maldiva Archipelago are of great size, one of them (which, however,
bears a double name) measured in a medial and slightly curved line, is
no less than eighty-eight geographical miles long, its greatest width
being under twenty, and its least only nine and a half miles. Some
atolls have spurs projecting from them; and in the Marshall group there
are atolls united together by linear reefs, for instance Menchikoff
Island (See Figure 3, Plate II.), which is sixty miles in length, and
consists of three loops tied together. In far the greater number of
cases an atoll consists of a simple elongated ring, with its outline
moderately regular.
The average width of the annular wreath may be taken as about a quarter
of a mile. Captain Beechey (Beechey’s “Voyage to the Pacific and
Beering’s Straits,” chapter viii.) says that in the atolls of the Low
Archipelago it exceeded in no instance half a mile. The description
given of the structure and proportional dimensions of the reef and
islets of Keeling atoll, appears to apply perfectly to nearly all the
atolls in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The islets are first formed
some way back either on the projecting points of the reef, especially
if its form be angular, or on the sides of the main entrances into the
lagoon—that is in both cases, on points where the breakers can act
during gales of wind in somewhat different directions, so that the
matter thrown up from one side may accumulate against that before
thrown up from another. In Lutke’s chart of the Caroline atolls, we see
many instances of the former case; and the occurrence of islets, as if
placed for beacons, on the points where there is a gateway or breach
through the reef, has been noticed by several authors. There are some
atoll-formed reefs, rising to the surface of the sea and partly dry at
low water, on which from some cause islets have never been formed; and
there are others on which they have been formed, but have subsequently
been worn away. In atolls of small dimensions the islets frequently
become united into a single horse-shoe or ring-formed strip; but Diego
Garcia, although an atoll of considerable size, being thirteen miles
and a half in length, has its lagoon entirely surrounded, except at the
northern end, by a belt of land, on an average a third of a mile in
width. To show how small the total area of the annular reef and the
land is in islands of this class, I may quote a remark from the voyage
of Lutke, namely, that if the forty-three rings, or atolls, in the
Caroline Archipelago, were put one within another, and over a steeple
in the centre of St. Petersburg, the whole world would not cover that
city and its suburbs.
The form of the bottom off Keeling atoll, which gradually slopes to
about twenty fathoms at the distance of between one and two hundred
yards from the edge of the reef, and then plunges at an angle of 45 deg
into unfathomable depths, is exactly the same (The form of the bottom
round the Marshall atolls in the Northern Pacific is probably similar:
Kotzebue (“First Voyage,” volume ii., page 16) says: “We had at a small
distance from the reef, forty fathoms depth, which increased a little
further so much that we could find no bottom.”) with that of the
sections of the atolls in the Low Archipelago given by Captain Beechey.
The nature, however, of the bottom seems to differ, for this officer (I
must be permitted to express my obligation to Captain Beechey, for the
very kind manner in which he has given me information on several
points, and to own the great assistance I have derived from his
excellent published work.) informs me that all the soundings, even the
deepest, were on coral, but he does not know whether dead or alive. The
slope round Christmas atoll (Lat. 1 deg 4′ N., 157 deg 45′ W.),
described by Cook (Cook’s “Third Voyage,” volume ii., chapter 10.), is
considerably less, at about half a mile from the edge of the reef, the
average depth was about fourteen fathoms on a fine sandy bottom, and at
a mile, only between twenty and forty fathoms. It has no doubt been
owing to this gentle slope, that the strip of land surrounding its
lagoon, has increased in one part to the extraordinary width of three
miles; it is formed of successive ridges of broken shells and corals,
like those on the beach. I know of no other instance of such width in
the reef of an atoll; but Mr. F.D. Bennett informs me that the
inclination of the bottom round Caroline atoll in the Pacific, is like
that off Christmas Island, very gentle. Off the Maldiva and Chagos
atolls, the inclination is much more abrupt; thus at Heawandoo Pholo,
Lieutenant Powell (This fact is taken from a MS. account of these
groups lent me by Captain Moresby. See also Captain Moresby’s paper on
the Maldiva atolls in the “Geographical Journal”, volume v., page 401.)
found fifty and sixty fathoms close to the edge of the reef, and at 300
yards distance there was no bottom with a 300-yard line. Captain
Moresby informs me, that at 100 fathoms from the mouth of the lagoon of
Diego Garcia, he found no bottom with 150 fathoms; this is the more
remarkable, as the slope is generally less abrupt in front of channels
through a reef, owing to the accumulation of sediment. At Egmont
Island, also, at 150 fathoms from the reef, soundings were struck with
150 fathoms. Lastly, at Cardoo atoll, only sixty yards from the reef,
no bottom was obtained, as I am informed by Captain Moresby, with a
line of 200 fathoms! The currents run with great force round these
atolls, and where they are strongest, the inclination appears to be
most abrupt. I am informed by the same authority, that wherever
soundings were obtained off these islands, the bottom was invariably
sandy: nor was there any reason to suspect the existence of submarine
cliffs, as there was at Keeling Island. (Off some of the islands in the
Low Archipelago the bottom appears to descend by ledges. Off Elizabeth
Island, which, however, consists of raised coral, Captain Beechey (page
45, 4to edition) describes three ledges: the first had an easy slope
from the beach to a distance of about fifty yards: the second extended
two hundred yards with twenty-five fathoms on it, and then ended
abruptly, like the first; and immediately beyond this there was no
bottom with two hundred fathoms.) Here then occurs a difficulty; can
sand accumulate on a slope, which, in some cases, appears to exceed
fifty-five degrees? It must be observed, that I speak of slopes where
soundings were obtained, and not of such cases, as that of Cardoo,
where the nature of the bottom is unknown, and where its inclination
must be nearly vertical. M. Elie de Beaumont (“Memoires pour servir a
une description Geolog. de France,” tome iv., page 216.) has argued,
and there is no higher authority on this subject, from the inclination
at which snow slides down in avalanches, that a bed of sand or mud
cannot be formed at a greater angle than thirty degrees. Considering
the number of soundings on sand, obtained round the Maldiva and Chagos
atolls, which appears to indicate a greater angle, and the extreme
abruptness of the sand-banks in the West Indies, as will be mentioned
in the Appendix, I must conclude that the adhesive property of wet sand
counteracts its gravity, in a much greater ratio than has been allowed
for by M. Elie de Beaumont. From the facility with which calcareous
sand becomes agglutinated, it is not necessary to suppose that the bed
of loose sand is thick.
Captain Beechey has observed, that the submarine slope is much less at
the extremities of the more elongated atolls in the Low Archipelago,
than at their sides; in speaking of Ducie’s Island he says (Beechey’s
“Voyage,” 4to edition, page 44.) the buttress, as it may be called,
which “has the most powerful enemy (the S.W. swell) to oppose, is
carried out much further, and with less abruptness than the other.” In
some cases, the less inclination of a certain part of the external
slope, for instance of the northern extremities of the two Keeling
atolls, is caused by a prevailing current which there accumulates a bed
of sand. Where the water is perfectly tranquil, as within a lagoon, the
reefs generally grow up perpendicularly, and sometimes even overhang
their bases; on the other hand, on the leeward side of Mauritius, where
the water is generally tranquil, although not invariably so, the reef
is very gently inclined. Hence it appears that the exterior angle
varies much; nevertheless in the close similarity in form between the
sections of Keeling atoll and of the atolls in the Low Archipelago, in
the general steepness of the reefs of the Maldiva and Chagos atolls,
and in the perpendicularity of those rising out of water always
tranquil, we may discern the effects of uniform laws; but from the
complex action of the surf and currents, on the growing powers of the
coral and on the deposition of sediment, we can by no means follow out
all the results.
Where islets have been formed on the reef, that part which I have
sometimes called the “flat” and which is partly dry at low water,
appears similar in every atoll. In the Marshall group in the North
Pacific, it may be inferred from Chamisso’s description, that the reef,
where islets have not been formed on it, slopes gently from the
external margin to the shores of the lagoon; Flinders states that the
Australian barrier has a similar inclination inwards, and I have no
doubt it is of general occurrence, although, according to Ehrenberg,
the reefs of the Red Sea offer an exception. Chamisso observes that
“the red colour of the reef (at the Marshall atolls) under the breakers
is caused by a Nullipora, which covers the stone WHEREVER THE WAVES
BEAT; and, under favourable circumstances, assumes a stalactical
form,”—a description perfectly applicable to the margin of Keeling
atoll. (Kotzebue’s “First Voyage,” volume iii., page 142. Near Porto
Praya, in the Cape de Verde Islands, some basaltic rocks, lashed by no
inconsiderable surf, were completely enveloped with a layer of
Nulliporæ. The entire surface over many square inches, was coloured of
a peach-blossomed red; the layer, however, was of no greater thickness
than paper. Another kind, in the form of projecting knobs, grew in the
same situation. These Nulliporæ are closely related to those described
on the coral-reefs, but I believe are of different species.) Although
Chamisso does not state that the masses of Nulliporæ form points or a
mound, higher than the flat, yet I believe that this is the case; for
Kotzebue (Kotzebue, “First Voyage,” volume ii., page 16. Lieutenant
Nelson, in his excellent memoir in the Geological Transactions (volume
ii., page 105), alludes to the rocky points mentioned by Kotzebue, and
infers that they consist of Serpulae, which compose incrusting masses
on the reefs of Bermudas, as they likewise do on a sandstone bar off
the coast of Brazil (which I have described in “London Phil. Journal,”
October 1841). These masses of Serpulae hold the same position,
relatively to the action of the sea, with the Nulliporæ on the
coral-reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.), in another part, speaks
of the rocks on the edge of the reef “as visible for about two feet at
low water,” and these rocks we may feel quite certain are not formed of
true coral (Captain Moresby, in his valuable paper “on the Northern
atolls of Maldivas” (“Geographical Journal”, volume v.), says that the
edges of the reefs there stand above water at low spring-tides.)
Whether a smooth convex mound of Nulliporæ, like that which appears as
if artificially constructed to protect the margin of Keeling Island, is
of frequent occurrence round atolls, I know not; but we shall presently
meet with it, under precisely the same form, on the outer edge of the
“barrier-reefs” which encircle the Society Islands.
There appears to be scarcely a feature in the structure of Keeling
reef, which is not of common, if not of universal occurrence, in other
atolls. Thus Chamisso describes (Kotzebue’s “First Voyage,” volume
iii., page 144.) a layer of coarse conglomerate, outside the islets
round the Marshall atolls which “appears on its upper surface uneven
and eaten away.” From drawings, with appended remarks, of Diego Garcia
in the Chagos group and of several of the Maldiva atolls, shown me by
Captain Moresby (see also Moresby on the Northern atolls of the
Maldivas, “Geographical Journal”, volume v., page 400.), it is evident
that their outer coasts are subject to the same round of decay and
renovation as those of Keeling atoll. From the description of the
atolls in the Low Archipelago, given in Captain Beechey’s “Voyage,” it
is not apparent that any conglomerate coral-rock was there observed.
The lagoon in Keeling atoll is shallow; in the atolls of the Low
Archipelago the depth varies from 20 to 38 fathoms, and in the Marshall
Group, according to Chamisso, from 30 to 35; in the Caroline atolls it
is only a little less. Within the Maldiva atolls there are large spaces
with 45 fathoms, and some soundings are laid down of 49 fathoms. The
greater part of the bottom in most lagoons, is formed of sediment;
large spaces have exactly the same depth, or the depth varies so
insensibly, that it is evident that no other means, excepting aqueous
deposition, could have leveled the surface so equally. In the Maldiva
atolls this is very conspicuous, and likewise in some of the Caroline
and Marshall Islands. In the former large spaces consist of sand and
SOFT CLAY; and Kotzebue speaks of clay having been found within one of
the Marshall atolls. No doubt this clay is calcareous mud, similar to
that at Keeling Island, and to that at Bermuda already referred to, as
undistinguishable from disintegrated chalk, and which Lieutenant Nelson
says is called there pipe-clay. (I may here observe that on the coast
of Brazil, where there is much coral, the soundings near the land are
described by Admiral Roussin, in the “Pilote du Bresil”, as siliceous
sand, mingled with much finely comminuted particles of shells and
coral. Further in the offing, for a space of 1,300 miles along the
coast, from the Abrolhos Islands to Maranham, the bottom in many places
is composed of “tuf blanc, mele ou forme de madrepores broyes.” This
white substance, probably, is analogous to that which occurs within the
above-mentioned lagoons; it is sometimes, according to Roussin, firm,
and he compares it to mortar.)
Where the waves act with unequal force on the two sides of an atoll,
the islets appear to be first formed, and are generally of greater
continuity on the more exposed shore. The islets, also, which are
placed to leeward, are in most parts of the Pacific liable to be
occasionally swept entirely away by gales, equalling hurricanes in
violence, which blow in an opposite direction to the ordinary
trade-wind. The absence of the islets on the leeward side of atolls, or
when present their lesser dimensions compared with those to windward,
is a comparatively unimportant fact; but in several instances the reef
itself on the leeward side, retaining its usual defined outline, does
not rise to the surface by several fathoms. This is the case with the
southern side of Peros Banhos (Plate I., Figure 9) in the Chagos group,
with Mourileu atoll (Frederick Lutke’s “Voyage autour du Monde,” volume
ii., page 291. See also his account of Namonouito, below, and the chart
of Oulleay in the Atlas.) in the Caroline Archipelago, and with the
barrier-reef (Plate I., Figure 8) of the Gambier Islands. I allude to
the latter reef, although belonging to another class, because Captain
Beechey was first led by it to observe the peculiarity in the question.
At Peros Banhos the submerged part is nine miles in length, and lies at
an average depth of about five fathoms; its surface is nearly level,
and consists of hard stone, with a thin covering of loose sand. There
is scarcely any living coral on it, even on the outer margin, as I have
been particularly assured by Captain Moresby; it is, in fact, a wall of
dead coral-rock, having the same width and transverse section with the
reef in its ordinary state, of which it is a continuous portion. The
living and perfect parts terminate abruptly, and abut on the submerged
portions, in the same manner as on the sides of an ordinary passage
through the reef. The reef to leeward in other cases is nearly or quite
obliterated, and one side of the lagoon is left open; for instance, at
Oulleay (Caroline Archipelago), where a crescent-formed reef is fronted
by an irregular bank, on which the other half of the annular reef
probably once stood. At Namonouito, in the same Archipelago, both these
modifications of the reef concur; it consists of a great flat bank,
with from twenty to twenty-five fathoms water on it; for a length of
more than forty miles on its southern side it is open and without any
reef, whilst on the other sides it is bounded by a reef, in parts
rising to the surface and perfectly characterised, in parts lying some
fathoms submerged. In the Chagos group there are annular reefs,
entirely submerged, which have the same structure as the submerged and
defined portions just described. The Speaker’s Bank offers an excellent
example of this structure; its central expanse, which is about
twenty-two fathoms deep, is twenty-four miles across; the external rim
is of the usual width of annular reefs, and is well-defined; it lies
between six and eight fathoms beneath the surface, and at the same
depth there are scattered knolls in the lagoon. Captain Moresby
believes the rim consists of dead rock, thinly covered with sand, and
he is certain this is the case with the external rim of the Great
Chagos Bank, which is also essentially a submerged atoll. In both these
cases, as in the submerged portion of the reef at Peros Banhos, Captain
Moresby feels sure that the quantity of living coral, even on the outer
edge overhanging the deep-sea water, is quite insignificant. Lastly, in
several parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans there are banks, lying
at greater depths than in the cases just mentioned, of the same form
and size with the neighbouring atolls, but with their atoll-like
structure wholly obliterated. It appears from the survey of Freycinet,
that there are banks of this kind in the Caroline Archipelago, and, as
is reported, in the Low Archipelago. When we discuss the origin of the
different classes of coral formations, we shall see that the submerged
state of the whole of some atoll-formed reefs, and of portions of
others, generally but not invariably on the leeward side, and the
existence of more deeply submerged banks now possessing little or no
signs of their original atoll-like structure, are probably the effects
of a uniform cause,—namely, the death of the coral, during the
subsidence of the area, in which the atolls or banks are situated.
There is seldom, with the exception of the Maldiva atolls, more than
two or three channels, and generally only one leading into the lagoon,
of sufficient depth for a ship to enter. in small atolls, there is
usually not even one. Where there is deep water, for instance above
twenty fathoms, in the middle of the lagoon, the channels through the
reef are seldom as deep as the centre,—it may be said that the rim only
of the saucer-shaped hollow forming the lagoon is notched. Mr. Lyell
(“Principles of Geology,” volume iii., page 289.) has observed that the
growth of the coral would tend to obstruct all the channels through a
reef, except those kept open by discharging the water, which during
high tide and the greater part of each ebb is thrown over its
circumference. Several facts indicate that a considerable quantity of
sediment is likewise discharged through these channels; and Captain
Moresby informs me that he has observed, during the change of the
monsoon, the sea discoloured to a distance off the entrances into the
Maldiva and Chagos atolls. This, probably, would check the growth of
the coral in them, far more effectually than a mere current of water.
In the many small atolls without any channel, these causes have not
prevented the entire ring attaining the surface. The channels, like the
submerged and effaced parts of the reef, very generally though not
invariably occur on the leeward side of the atoll, or on that side,
according to Beechey (Beechey’s “Voyage,” 4to edition, volume i., page
189.), which, from running in the same direction with the prevalent
wind, is not fully exposed to it. Passages between the islets on the
reef, through which boats can pass at high water, must not be
confounded with ship-channels, by which the annular reef itself is
breached. The passages between the islets occur, of course, on the
windward as well as on the leeward side; but they are more frequent and
broader to leeward, owing to the lesser dimensions of the islets on
that side.
At Keeling atoll the shores of the lagoon shelve gradually, where the
bottom is of sediment, and irregularly or abruptly where there are
coral-reefs; but this is by no means the universal structure in other
atolls. Chamisso (Kotzebue’s “First Voyage,” volume iii., page 142.),
speaking in general terms of the lagoons in the Marshall atolls, says
the lead generally sinks “from a depth of two or three fathoms to
twenty or twenty-four, and you may pursue a line in which on one side
of the boat you may see the bottom, and on the other the azure-blue
deep water.” The shores of the lagoon-like channel within the
barrier-reef at Vanikoro have a similar structure. Captain Beechey has
described a modification of this structure (and he believes it is not
uncommon) in two atolls in the Low Archipelago, in which the shores of
the lagoon descend by a few, broad, slightly inclined ledges or steps:
thus at Matilda atoll (Beechey’s “Voyage,” 4to edition, volume i, page
160. At Whitsunday Island the bottom of the lagoon slopes gradually
towards the centre, and then deepens suddenly, the edge of the bank
being nearly perpendicular. This bank is formed of coral and dead
shells.), the great exterior reef, the surface of which is gently
inclined towards and beneath the surface of the lagoon, ends abruptly
in a little cliff three fathoms deep; at its foot, a ledge forty yards
wide extends, shelving gently inwards like the surface-reef, and
terminated by a second little cliff five fathoms deep; beyond this, the
bottom of the lagoon slopes to twenty fathoms, which is the average
depth of its centre. These ledges seem to be formed of coral-rock; and
Captain Beechey says that the lead often descended several fathoms
through holes in them. In some atolls, all the coral reefs or knolls in
the lagoon come to the surface at low water; in other cases of rarer
occurrence, all lie at nearly the same depth beneath it, but most
frequently they are quite irregular,—some with perpendicular, some with
sloping sides,—some rising to the surface, and others lying at all
intermediate depths from the bottom upwards. I cannot, therefore,
suppose that the union of such reefs could produce even one uniformly
sloping ledge, and much less two or three, one beneath the other, and
each terminated by an abrupt wall. At Matilda Island, which offers the
best example of the step-like structure, Captain Beechey observes that
the coral-knolls within the lagoon are quite irregular in their height.
We shall hereafter see that the theory which accounts for the ordinary
form of atolls, apparently includes this occasional peculiarity in
their structure.
In the midst of a group of atolls, there sometimes occur small, flat,
very low islands of coral formation, which probably once included a
lagoon, since filled up with sediment and coral-reefs. Captain Beechey
entertains no doubt that this has been the case with the two small
islands, which alone of thirty-one surveyed by him in the Low
Archipelago, did not contain lagoons. Romanzoff Island (in lat. 15 deg
S.) is described by Chamisso (Kotzebue’s “First Voyage,” volume iii.,
page 221.) as formed by a dam of madreporitic rock inclosing a flat
space, thinly covered with trees, into which the sea on the leeward
side occasionally breaks. North Keeling atoll appears to be in a rather
less forward stage of conversion into land; it consists of a horse-shoe
shaped strip of land surrounding a muddy flat, one mile in its longest
axis, which is covered by the sea only at high water. When describing
South Keeling atoll, I endeavoured to show how slow the final process
of filling up a lagoon must be; nevertheless, as all causes do tend to
produce this effect, it is very remarkable that not one instance, as I
believe, is known of a moderately sized lagoon being filled up even to
the low water-line at spring-tides, much less of such a one being
converted into land. It is, likewise, in some degree remarkable, how
few atolls, except small ones, are surrounded by a single linear strip
of land, formed by the union of separate islets. We cannot suppose that
the many atolls in the Pacific and Indian Oceans all have had a late
origin, and yet should they remain at their present level, subjected
only to the action of the sea and to the growing powers of the coral,
during as many centuries as must have elapsed since any of the earlier
tertiary epochs, it cannot, I think, be doubted that their lagoons and
the islets on their reef, would present a totally different appearance
from what they now do. This consideration leads to the suspicion that
some renovating agency (namely subsidence) comes into play at
intervals, and perpetuates their original structure.
SECTION III.—ATOLLS OF THE MALDIVA ARCHIPELAGO—GREAT CHAGOS BANK.
Maldiva Archipelago.—Ring-formed reefs, marginal and central.—Great
depths in the lagoons of the southern atolls.—Reefs in the lagoons all
rising to the surface.—Position of islets and breaches in the reefs,
with respect to the prevalent winds and action of the
waves.—Destruction of islets.—Connection in the position and submarine
foundation of distinct atolls.—The apparent disseverment of large
atolls.—The Great Chagos Bank.—Its submerged condition and
extraordinary structure.
Although occasional references have been made to the Maldiva atolls,
and to the banks in the Chagos group, some points of their structure
deserve further consideration. My description is derived from an
examination of the admirable charts lately published from the survey of
Captain Moresby and Lieutenant Powell, and more especially from
information which Captain Moresby has communicated to me in the kindest
manner.
The Maldiva Archipelago is 470 miles in length, with an average breadth
of about 50 miles. The form and dimensions of the atolls, and their
singular position in a double line, may be seen, but not well, in the
greatly reduced chart (Figure 6) in Plate II. The dimensions of the
longest atoll in the group (called by the double name of
Milla-dou-Madou and Tilla-dou-Matte) have already been given; it is 88
miles in a medial and slightly curved line, and is less than 20 miles
in its broadest part. Suadiva, also, is a noble atoll, being 44 miles
across in one direction, and 34 in another, and the great included
expanse of water has a depth of between 250 and 300 feet. The smaller
atolls in this group differ in no respect from ordinary ones; but the
larger ones are remarkable from being breached by numerous deep-water
channels leading into the lagoon; for instance, there are 42 channels,
through which a ship could enter the lagoon of Suadiva. In the three
southern large atolls, the separate portions of reef between these
channels have the ordinary structure, and are linear; but in the other
atolls, especially the more northern ones, these portions are ring-
formed, like miniature atolls. Other ring-formed reefs rise out of the
lagoons, in the place of those irregular ones which ordinarily occur
there. In the reduction of the chart of Mahlos Mahdoo (Plate II.,
Figure 4), it was not found easy to define the islets and the little
lagoons within each reef, so that the ring-formed structure is very
imperfectly shown; in the large published charts of Tilla-dou-Matte,
the appearance of these rings, from standing further apart from each
other, is very remarkable. The rings on the margin are generally
elongated; many of them are three, and some even five miles, in
diameter; those within the lagoon are usually smaller, few being more
than two miles across, and the greater number rather less than one. The
depth of the little lagoon within these small annular reefs is
generally from five to seven fathoms, but occasionally more; and in Ari
atoll many of the central ones are twelve, and some even more than
twelve fathoms deep. These rings rise abruptly from the platform or
bank, on which they are placed; their outer margin is invariably
bordered by living coral (Captain Moresby informs me that Millepora
complanata is one of the commonest kinds on the outer margin, as it is
at Keeling atoll.) within which there is a flat surface of coral rock;
of this flat, sand and fragments have in many cases accumulated and
been converted into islets, clothed with vegetation. I can, in fact,
point out no essential difference between these little ring-formed
reefs (which, however, are larger, and contain deeper lagoons than many
true atolls that stand in the open sea), and the most perfectly
characterised atolls, excepting that the ring-formed reefs are based on
a shallow foundation, instead of on the floor of the open sea, and that
instead of being scattered irregularly, they are grouped closely
together on one large platform, with the marginal rings arranged in a
rudely formed circle.
The perfect series which can be traced from portions of simple linear
reef, to others including long linear lagoons, and from these again to
oval or almost circular rings, renders it probable that the latter are
merely modifications of the linear or normal state. It is conformable
with this view, that the ring-formed reefs on the margin, even where
most perfect and standing furthest apart, generally have their longest
axes directed in the line which the reef would have held, if the atoll
had been bounded by an ordinary wall. We may also infer that the
central ring-formed reefs are modifications of those irregular ones,
which are found in the lagoons of all common atolls. It appears from
the charts on a large scale, that the ring-like structure is contingent
on the marginal channels or breaches being wide; and, consequently, on
the whole interior of the atoll being freely exposed to the waters of
the open sea. When the channels are narrow or few in number, although
the lagoon be of great size and depth (as in Suadiva), there are no
ring-formed reefs; where the channels are somewhat broader, the
marginal portions of reef, and especially those close to the larger
channels, are ring-formed, but the central ones are not so; where they
are broadest, almost every reef throughout the atoll is more or less
perfectly ring-formed. Although their presence is thus contingent on
the openness of the marginal channels, the theory of their formation,
as we shall hereafter see, is included in that of the parent atolls, of
which they form the separate portions.
The lagoons of all the atolls in the southern part of the Archipelago
are from ten to twenty fathoms deeper than those in the northern part.
This is well exemplified in the case of Addoo, the southernmost atoll
in the group, for although only nine miles in its longest diameter, it
has a depth of thirty-nine fathoms, whereas all the other small atolls
have comparatively shallow lagoons; I can assign no adequate cause for
this difference in depth. In the central and deepest part of the
lagoons, the bottom consists, as I am informed by Captain Moresby, of
stiff clay (probably a calcareous mud); nearer the border it consists
of sand, and in the channels through the reef, of hard sand-banks,
sandstone, conglomerate rubble, and a little live coral. Close outside
the reef and the line joining its detached portions (where intersected
by many channels), the bottom is sandy, and it slopes abruptly into
unfathomable depths. In most lagoons the depth is considerably greater
in the centre than in the channels; but in Tilla-dou-Matte, where the
marginal ring-formed reefs stand far apart, the same depth is carried
across the entire atoll, from the deep-water line on one side to that
on the other. I cannot refrain from once again remarking on the
singularity of these atolls,—a great sandy and generally concave disc
rises abruptly from the unfathomable ocean, with its central expanse
studded and its border symmetrically fringed with oval basins of
coral-rock, just lipping the surface of the sea, sometimes clothed with
vegetation, and each containing a little lake of clear water!
In the southern Maldiva atolls, of which there are nine large ones, all
the small reefs within the lagoons come to the surface, and are dry at
low water spring-tides; hence in navigating them, there is no danger
from submarine banks. This circumstance is very remarkable, as within
some atolls, for instance those of the neighbouring Chagos group, not a
single reef comes to the surface, and in most other cases a few only
do, and the rest lie at all intermediate depths from the bottom
upwards. When treating of the growth of coral I shall again refer to
this subject.
Although in the neighbourhood of the Maldiva Archipelago the winds,
during the monsoons, blow during nearly an equal time from opposite
quarters, and although, as I am informed by Captain Moresby, the
westerly winds are the strongest, yet the islets are almost all placed
on the eastern side of the northern atolls, and on the south-eastern
side of the southern atolls. That the formation of the islets is due to
detritus thrown up from the outside, as in the ordinary manner, and not
from the interior of the lagoons, may, I think be safely inferred from
several considerations, which it is hardly worth while to detail. As
the easterly winds are not the strongest, their action probably is
aided by some prevailing swell or current.
In groups of atolls, exposed to a trade-wind, the ship-channels into
the lagoons are almost invariably situated on the leeward or less
exposed side of the reef, and the reef itself is sometimes either
wanting there, or is submerged. A strictly analogous, but different
fact, may be observed at the Maldiva atolls—namely, that where two
atolls stand in front of each other, the breaches in the reef are the
most numerous on their near, and therefore less exposed, sides. Thus on
the near sides of Ari and the two Nillandoo atolls, which face S. Male,
Phaleedoo, and Moloque atolls, there are seventy-three deep-water
channels, and only twenty-five on their outer sides; on the near side
of the three latter named atolls there are fifty- six openings, and
only thirty-seven on their outsides. It is scarcely possible to
attribute this difference to any other cause than the somewhat
different action of the sea on the two sides, which would ensue from
the protection afforded by the two rows of atolls to each other. I may
here remark that in most cases, the conditions favourable to the
greater accumulation of fragments on the reef and to its more perfect
continuity on one side of the atoll than on the other, have concurred,
but this has not been the case with the Maldivas; for we have seen that
the islets are placed on the eastern or south-eastern sides, whilst the
breaches in the reef occur indifferently on any side, where protected
by an opposite atoll. The reef being more continuous on the outer and
more exposed sides of those atolls which stand near each other, accords
with the fact, that the reef of the southern atolls is more continuous
than that of the northern ones; for the former, as I am informed by
Captain Moresby, are more constantly exposed than the northern atolls
to a heavy surf.
The date of the first formation of some of the islets in this
Archipelago is known to the inhabitants; on the other hand, several
islets, and even some of those which are believed to be very old, are
now fast wearing away. The work of destruction has, in some instances,
been completed in ten years. Captain Moresby found on one water-washed
reef the marks of wells and graves, which were excavated when it
supported an islet. In South Nillandoo atoll, the natives say that
three of the islets were formerly larger: in North Nillandoo there is
one now being washed away; and in this latter atoll Lieutenant Prentice
found a reef, about six hundred yards in diameter, which the natives
positively affirmed was lately an island covered with cocoa-nut trees.
It is now only partially dry at low water spring-tides, and is (in
Lieutenant Prentice’s words) “entirely covered with live coral and
madrepore.” In the northern part, also, of the Maldiva Archipelago and
in the Chagos group, it is known that some of the islets are
disappearing. The natives attribute these effects to variations in the
currents of the sea. For my own part I cannot avoid suspecting that
there must be some further cause, which gives rise to such a cycle of
change in the action of the currents of the great and open ocean.
Several of the atolls in this Archipelago are so related to each other
in form and position, that at the first glance one is led to suspect
that they have originated in the disseverment of a single one. Male
consists of three perfectly characterised atolls, of which the shape
and relative position are such, that a line drawn closely round all
three, gives a symmetrical figure; to see this clearly, a larger chart
is required than that of the Archipelago in Plate II.; the channel
separating the two northern Male atolls is only little more than a mile
wide, and no bottom was found in it with 100 fathoms. Powell’s Island
is situated at the distance of two miles and a half off the northern
end of Mahlos Mahdoo (see Figure 4, Plate II.), at the exact point
where the two sides of the latter, if prolonged, would meet; no bottom,
however, was found in the channel with 200 fathoms; in the wider
channel between Horsburgh atoll and the southern end of Mahlos Mahdoo,
no bottom was found with 250 fathoms. In these and similar cases, the
relation consists only in the form and position of the atolls. But in
the channel between the two Nillandoo atolls, although three miles and
a quarter wide, soundings were struck at the depth of 200 fathoms; the
channel between Ross and Ari atolls is four miles wide, and only 150
fathoms deep. Here then we have, besides the relation of form, a
submarine connection. The fact of soundings having been obtained
between two separate and perfectly characterised atolls is in itself
interesting, as it has never, I believe, been effected in any of the
many other groups of atolls in the Pacific and Indian seas. In
continuing to trace the connection of adjoining atolls, if a hasty
glance be taken at the chart (Figure 4., Plate II.) of Mahlos Mahdoo,
and the line of unfathomable water be followed, no one will hesitate to
consider it as one atoll. But a second look will show that it is
divided by a bifurcating channel, of which the northern arm is about
one mile and three-quarters in width, with an average depth of 125
fathoms, and the southern one three-quarters of a mile wide, and rather
less deep. These channels resemble in the slope of their sides and
general form, those which separate atolls in every respect distinct;
and the northern arm is wider than that dividing two of the Male
atolls. The ring-formed reefs on the sides of this bifurcating channel
are elongated, so that the northern and southern portions of Mahlos
Mahdoo may claim, as far as their external outline is concerned, to be
considered as distinct and perfect atolls. But the intermediate
portion, lying in the fork of the channel, is bordered by reefs less
perfect than those which surround any other atoll in the group of
equally small dimensions. Mahlos Mahdoo, therefore, is in every respect
in so intermediate a condition, that it may be considered either as a
single atoll nearly dissevered into three portions, or as three atolls
almost perfect and intimately connected. This is an instance of a very
early stage of the apparent disseverment of an atoll, but a still
earlier one in many respects is exhibited at Tilla-dou- Matte. In one
part of this atoll, the ring-formed reefs stand so far apart from each
other, that the inhabitants have given different names to the northern
and southern halves; nearly all the rings, moreover, are so perfect and
stand so separate, and the space from which they rise is so level and
unlike a true lagoon, that we can easily imagine the conversion of this
one great atoll, not into two or three portions, but into a whole group
of miniature atolls. A perfect series such as we have here traced,
impresses the mind with an idea of actual change; and it will hereafter
be seen, that the theory of subsidence, with the upward growth of the
coral, modified by accidents of probable occurrence, will account for
the occasional disseverment of large atolls.
The Great Chagos bank alone remains to be described. In the Chagos
group there are some ordinary atolls, some annular reefs rising to the
surface but without any islets on them, and some atoll-formed banks,
either quite submerged, or nearly so. Of the latter, the Great Chagos
Bank is much the largest, and differs in its structure from the others:
a plan of it is given in Plate II., Figure 1, in which, for the sake of
clearness, I have had the parts under ten fathoms deep finely shaded:
an east and west vertical section is given in Figure 2, in which the
vertical scale has been necessarily exaggerated. Its longest axis is
ninety nautical miles, and another line drawn at right angles to the
first, across the broadest part, is seventy. The central part consists
of a level muddy flat, between forty and fifty fathoms deep, which is
surrounded on all sides, with the exception of some breaches, by the
steep edges of a set of banks, rudely arranged in a circle. These banks
consist of sand, with a very little live coral; they vary in breadth
from five to twelve miles, and on an average lie about sixteen fathoms
beneath the surface; they are bordered by the steep edges of a third
narrow and upper bank, which forms the rim to the whole. This rim is
about a mile in width, and with the exception of two or three spots
where islets have been formed, is submerged between five and ten
fathoms. It consists of smooth hard rock, covered with a thin layer of
sand, but with scarcely any live coral; it is steep on both sides, and
outwards slopes abruptly into unfathomable depths. At the distance of
less than half a mile from one part, no bottom was found with 190
fathoms; and off another point, at a somewhat greater distance, there
was none with 210 fathoms. Small steep-sided banks or knolls, covered
with luxuriantly growing coral, rise from the interior expanse to the
same level with the external rim, which, as we have seen, is formed
only of dead rock. It is impossible to look at the plan (Figure 1,
Plate II.), although reduced to so small a scale, without at once
perceiving that the Great Chagos Bank is, in the words of Captain
Moresby (This officer has had the kindness to lend me an excellent MS.
account of the Chagos Islands; from this paper, from the published
charts, and from verbal information communicated to me by Captain
Moresby, the above account of the Great Chagos Bank is taken.),
“nothing more than a half-drowned atoll.” But of what great dimensions,
and of how extraordinary an internal structure? We shall hereafter have
to consider both the cause of its submerged condition, a state common
to other banks in the group, and the origin of the singular submarine
terraces, which bound the central expanse: these, I think, it can be
shown, have resulted from a cause analogous to that which has produced
the bifurcating channel across Mahlos Mahdoo.
CHAPTER II.
BARRIER REEFS.
Closely resemble in general form and structure atoll-reefs.—Width and
depth of the lagoon-channels.—Breaches through the reef in front of
valleys, and generally on the leeward side.—Checks to the filling up of
the lagoon-channels.—Size and constitution of the encircled islands.—
Number of islands within the same reef.—Barrier-reefs of New Caledonia
and Australia.—Position of the reef relative to the slope of the
adjoining land.—Probable great thickness of barrier-reefs.
The term “barrier” has been generally applied to that vast reef which
fronts the N.E. shore of Australia, and by most voyagers likewise to
that on the western coast of New Caledonia. At one time I thought it
convenient thus to restrict the term, but as these reefs are similar in
structure, and in position relatively to the land, to those, which,
like a wall with a deep moat within, encircle many smaller islands, I
have classed them together. The reef, also, on the west coast of New
Caledonia, circling round the extremities of the island, is an
intermediate form between a small encircling reef and the Australian
barrier, which stretches for a thousand miles in nearly a straight
line.
The geographer Balbi has in effect described those barrier-reefs, which
encircle moderately sized islands, by calling them atolls with high
land rising from within their central expanse. The general resemblance
between the reefs of the barrier and atoll classes may be seen in the
small, but accurately reduced charts on Plate I. (The authorities from
which these charts have been reduced, together with some remarks on
them and descriptive of the Plates, are given separately.), and this
resemblance can be further shown to extend to every part of the
structure. Beginning with the outside of the reef; many scattered
soundings off Gambier, Oualan, and some other encircled islands, show
that close to the breakers there exists a narrow shelving margin,
beyond which the ocean becomes suddenly unfathomable; but off the west
coast of New Caledonia, Captain Kent (Dalrymple, “Hydrog. Mem.” volume
iii.) found no bottom with 150 fathoms, at two ships’ length from the
reef; so that the slope here must be nearly as precipitous as off the
Maldiva atolls.
I can give little information regarding the kinds of corals which live
on the outer margin. When I visited the reef at Tahiti, although it was
low water, the surf was too violent for me to see the living masses;
but, according to what I heard from some intelligent native chiefs,
they resemble in their rounded and branchless forms, those on the
margin of Keeling atoll. The extreme verge of the reef, which was
visible between the breaking waves at low water, consisted of a
rounded, convex, artificial-like breakwater, entirely coated with
Nulliporæ, and absolutely similar to that which I have described at
Keeling atoll. From what I heard when at Tahiti, and from the writings
of the Revs. W. Ellis and J. Williams, I conclude that this peculiar
structure is common to most of the encircled islands of the Society
Archipelago. The reef within this mound or breakwater, has an extremely
irregular surface, even more so than between the islets on the reef of
Keeling atoll, with which alone (as there are no islets on the reef of
Tahiti) it can properly be compared. At Tahiti, the reef is very
irregular in width; but round many other encircled islands, for
instance, Vanikoro or Gambier Islands (Figures 1 and 8, Plate I.), it
is quite as regular, and of the same average width, as in true atolls.
Most barrier-reefs on the inner side slope irregularly into the
lagoon-channel (as the space of deep water separating the reef from the
included land may be called), but at Vanikoro the reef slopes only for
a short distance, and then terminates abruptly in a submarine wall,
forty feet high,—a structure absolutely similar to that described by
Chamisso in the Marshall atolls.
In the Society Archipelago, Ellis (Consult, on this and other points,
the “Polynesian Researches,” by the Rev. W. Ellis, an admirable work,
full of curious information.) states, that the reefs generally lie at
the distance of from one to one and a half miles, and, occasionally,
even at more than three miles, from the shore. The central mountains
are generally bordered by a fringe of flat, and often marshy, alluvial
land, from one to four miles in width. This fringe consists of
coral-sand and detritus thrown up from the lagoon-channel, and of soil
washed down from the hills; it is an encroachment on the channel,
analogous to that low and inner part of the islets in many atolls which
is formed by the accumulation of matter from the lagoon. At Hogoleu
(Figure 2, Plate I.), in the Caroline Archipelago (See “Hydrographical
Mem.” and the “Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’,” by Captain
Dumont D’Urville, page 428.), the reef on the south side is no less
than twenty miles; on the east side, five; and on the north side,
fourteen miles from the encircled high islands.
The lagoon channels may be compared in every respect with true lagoons.
In some cases they are open, with a level bottom of fine sand; in
others they are choked up with reefs of delicately branched corals,
which have the same general character as those within the Keeling
atoll. These internal reefs either stand separately, or more commonly
skirt the shores of the included high islands. The depth of the
lagoon-channel round the Society Islands varies from two or three to
thirty fathoms; in Cook’s (See the chart in volume i. of Hawkesworth’s
4to edition of “Cook’s First Voyage.”) chart of Ulieta, however, there
is one sounding laid down of forty-eight fathoms; at Vanikoro there are
several of fifty-four and one of fifty-six and a half fathoms
(English), a depth which even exceeds by a little that of the interior
of the great Maldiva atolls. Some barrier-reefs have very few islets on
them; whilst others are surmounted by numerous ones; and those round
part of Bolabola (Plate I., Figure 5) form a single linear strip. The
islets first appear either on the angles of the reef, or on the sides
of the breaches through it, and are generally most numerous on the
windward side. The reef to leeward retaining its usual width, sometimes
lies submerged several fathoms beneath the surface; I have already
mentioned Gambier Island as an instance of this structure. Submerged
reefs, having a less defined outline, dead, and covered with sand, have
been observed (see Appendix) off some parts of Huaheine and Tahiti. The
reef is more frequently breached to leeward than to windward; thus I
find in Krusenstern’s “Memoir on the Pacific,” that there are passages
through the encircling reef on the leeward side of each of the seven
Society Islands, which possess ship-harbours; but that there are
openings to windward through the reef of only three of them. The
breaches in the reef are seldom as deep as the interior lagoon-like
channel; they generally occur in front of the main valleys, a
circumstance which can be accounted for, as will be seen in the fourth
chapter, without much difficulty. The breaches being situated in front
of the valleys, which descend indifferently on all sides, explains
their more frequent occurrence through the windward side of
barrier-reefs than through the windward side of atolls,—for in atolls
there is no included land to influence the position of the breaches.
It is remarkable, that the lagoon-channels round mountainous islands
have not in every instance been long ago filled up with coral and
sediment; but it is more easily accounted for than appears at first
sight. In cases like that of Hogoleu and the Gambier Islands, where a
few small peaks rise out of a great lagoon, the conditions scarcely
differ from those of an atoll, and I have already shown, at some
length, that the filling up of a true lagoon must be an extremely slow
process. Where the channel is narrow, the agency, which on unprotected
coasts is most productive of sediment, namely the force of the
breakers, is here entirely excluded, and the reef being breached in the
front of the main valleys, much of the finer mud from the rivers must
be transported into the open sea. As a current is formed by the water
thrown over the edge of atoll-formed reefs, which carries sediment with
it through the deep-water breaches, the same thing probably takes place
in barrier-reefs, and this would greatly aid in preventing the
lagoon-channel from being filled up. The low alluvial border, however,
at the foot of the encircled mountains, shows that the work of filling
up is in progress; and at Maura (Plate I., Figure 6), in the Society
group, it has been almost effected, so that there remains only one
harbour for small craft.
If we look at a set of charts of barrier-reefs, and leave out in
imagination the encircled land, we shall find that, besides the many
points already noticed of resemblance, or rather of identity in
structure with atolls, there is a close general agreement in form,
average dimensions, and grouping. Encircling barrier-reefs, like
atolls, are generally elongated, with an irregularly rounded, though
sometimes angular outline. There are atolls of all sizes, from less
than two miles in diameter to sixty miles (excluding Tilla-dou-Matte,
as it consists of a number of almost independent atoll-formed reefs);
and there are encircling barrier-reefs from three miles and a half to
forty-six miles in diameter,—Turtle Island being an instance of the
former, and Hogoleu of the latter. At Tahiti the encircled island is
thirty-six miles in its longest axis, whilst at Maurua it is only a
little more than two miles. It will be shown, in the last chapter in
this volume, that there is the strictest resemblance in the grouping of
atolls and of common islands, and consequently there must be the same
resemblance in the grouping of atolls and of encircling barrier-reefs.
The islands lying within reefs of this class, are of very various
heights. Tahiti is 7,000 feet (The height of Tahiti is given from
Captain Beechey; Maurua from Mr. F.D. Bennett (“Geograph. Journ.”
volume viii., page 220); Aitutaki from measurements made on board the
“Beagle”; and Manouai or Harvey Island, from an estimate by the Rev. J.
Williams. The two latter islands, however, are not in some respects
well characterised examples of the encircled class.); Maurua about 800;
Aitutaki 360, and Manouai only 50. The geological nature of the
included land varies: in most cases it is of ancient volcanic origin,
owing apparently to the fact that islands of this nature are most
frequent within all great seas; some, however, are of madreporitic
limestone, and others of primary formation, of which latter kind New
Caledonia offers the best example. The central land consists either of
one island, or of several: thus, in the Society group, Eimeo stands by
itself; while Taha and Raiatea (Figure 3, Plate I.), both moderately
large islands of nearly equal size, are included in one reef. Within
the reef of the Gambier group there are four large and some smaller
islands (Figure 8, Plate I.); within that of Hogoleu (Figure 2, Plate
I.) nearly a dozen small islands are scattered over the expanse of one
vast lagoon.
After the details now given, it may be asserted that there is not one
point of essential difference between encircling barrier-reefs and
atolls: the latter enclose a simple sheet of water, the former encircle
an expanse with one or more islands rising from it. I was much struck
with this fact, when viewing, from the heights of Tahiti, the distant
island of Eimeo standing within smooth water, and encircled by a ring
of snow-white breakers. Remove the central land, and an annular reef
like that of an atoll in an early stage of its formation is left;
remove it from Bolabola, and there remains a circle of linear
coral-islets, crowned with tall cocoa-nut trees, like one of the many
atolls scattered over the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The barrier-reefs of Australia and of New Caledonia deserve a separate
notice from their great dimensions. The reef on the west coast of New
Caledonia (Figure 5, Plate II.) is 400 miles in length; and for a
length of many leagues it seldom approaches within eight miles of the
shore; and near the southern end of the island, the space between the
reef and the land is sixteen miles in width. The Australian barrier
extends, with a few interruptions, for nearly a thousand miles; its
average distance from the land is between twenty and thirty miles; and
in some parts from fifty to seventy. The great arm of the sea thus
included, is from ten to twenty-five fathoms deep, with a sandy bottom;
but towards the southern end, where the reef is further from the shore,
the depth gradually increases to forty, and in some parts to more than
sixty fathoms. Flinders (Flinders’ “Voyage to Terra Australis,” volume
ii., page 88.) has described the surface of this reef as consisting of
a hard white agglomerate of different kinds of coral, with rough
projecting points. The outer edge is the highest part; it is traversed
by narrow gullies, and at rare intervals is breached by ship-channels.
The sea close outside is profoundly deep; but, in front of the main
breaches, soundings can sometimes be obtained. Some low islets have
been formed on the reef.
[Illustration]
1. VANIKORO, from the “Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’,” by D.
D’Urville.
2. GAMBIER ISLAND, from Beechey.
3. MAURUA, from the “Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Coquille’,” by
Duperrey.
The horizontal line is the level of the sea, from which on the right
hand a plummet descends, representing a depth of 200 fathoms, or 1,200
feet. The vertical shading shows the section of the land, and the
horizontal shading that of the encircling barrier-reef: from the
smallness of the scale, the lagoon-channel could not be represented.
AA.—Outer edge of the coral-reefs, where the sea breaks.
BB.—The shore of the encircled islands.)
There is one important point in the structure of barrier-reefs which
must here be considered. The accompanying diagrams represent north and
south vertical sections, taken through the highest points of Vanikoro,
Gambier, and Maurua Islands, and through their encircling reefs. The
scale both in the horizontal and vertical direction is the same,
namely, a quarter of an inch to a nautical mile. The height and width
of these islands is known; and I have attempted to represent the form
of the land from the shading of the hills in the large published
charts. It has long been remarked, even from the time of Dampier, that
considerable degree of relation subsists between the inclination of
that part of the land which is beneath water and that above it; hence
the dotted line in the three sections, probably, does not widely differ
in inclination from the actual submarine prolongation of the land. If
we now look at the outer edge of the reef (AA), and bear in mind that
the plummet on the right hand represents a depth of 1,200 feet, we must
conclude that the vertical thickness of these barrier coral-reefs is
very great.
I must observe that if the sections had been taken in any other
direction across these islands, or across other encircled islands (In
the fifth chapter an east and west section across the Island of
Bolabola and its barrier-reefs is given, for the sake of illustrating
another point. The unbroken line in it (woodcut No. 5) is the section
referred to. The scale is .57 of an inch to a mile; it is taken from
the “Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Coquille’,” by Duperrey. The depth of
the lagoon-channel is exaggerated.), the result would have been the
same. In the succeeding chapter it will be shown that reef-building
polypifers cannot flourish at great depths,—for instance, it is highly
improbable that they could exist at a quarter of the depth represented
by the plummet on the right hand of the woodcut. Here there is a great
APPARENT difficulty—how were the basal parts of these barrier-reef
formed? It will, perhaps, occur to some, that the actual reefs formed
of coral are not of great thickness, but that before their first
growth, the coasts of these encircled islands were deeply eaten into,
and a broad but shallow submarine ledge thus left, on the edge of which
the coral grew; but if this had been the case, the shore would have
been invariably bounded by lofty cliffs, and not have sloped down to
the lagoon-channel, as it does in many instances. On this view (The
Rev. D. Tyerman and Mr. Bennett (“Journal of Voyage and Travels,”
volume i., page 215) have briefly suggested this explanation of the
origin of the encircling reefs of the Society Islands.), moreover, the
cause of the reef springing up at such a great distance from the land,
leaving a deep and broad moat within, remains altogether unexplained. A
supposition of the same nature, and appearing at first more probable
is, that the reefs sprung up from banks of sediment, which had
accumulated round the shore previously to the growth of the coral; but
the extension of a bank to the same distance round an unbroken coast,
and in front of those deep arms of the sea (as in Raiatea, see Plate
II., Figure 3) which penetrate nearly to the heart of some encircled
islands, is exceedingly improbable. And why, again, should the reef
spring up, in some cases steep on both sides like a wall, at a distance
of two, three or more miles from the shore, leaving a channel often
between two hundred and three hundred feet deep, and rising from a
depth which we have reason to believe is destructive to the growth of
coral? An admission of this nature cannot possibly be made. The
existence, also, of the deep channel, utterly precludes the idea of the
reef having grown outwards, on a foundation slowly formed on its
outside, by the accumulation of sediment and coral detritus. Nor,
again, can it be asserted, that the reef-building corals will not grow,
excepting at a great distance from the land; for, as we shall soon see,
there is a whole class of reefs, which take their name from growing
closely attached (especially where the sea is deep) to the beach. At
New Caledonia (see Plate II., Figure 5) the reefs which run in front of
the west coast are prolonged in the same line 150 miles beyond the
northern extremity of the island, and this shows that some explanation,
quite different from any of those just suggested, is required. The
continuation of the reefs on each side of the submarine prolongation of
New Caledonia, is an exceedingly interesting fact, if this part
formerly existed as the northern extremity of the island, and before
the attachment of the coral had been worn down by the action of the
sea, or if it originally existed at its present height, with or without
beds of sediment on each flank, how can we possibly account for the
reefs, not growing on the crest of this submarine portion, but fronting
its sides, in the same line with the reefs which front the shores of
the lofty island? We shall hereafter see, that there is one, and I
believe only one, solution of this difficulty.
One other supposition to account for the position of encircling
barrier-reefs remains, but it is almost too preposterous to be
mentioned; namely, that they rest on enormous submarine craters,
surrounding the included islands. When the size, height, and form of
the islands in the Society group are considered, together with the fact
that all are thus encircled, such a notion will be rejected by almost
every one. New Caledonia, moreover, besides its size, is composed of
primitive formations, as are some of the Comoro Islands (I have been
informed that this is the case by Dr. Allan of Forres, who has visited
this group.); and Aitutaki consists of calcareous rock. We must,
therefore, reject these several explanations, and conclude that the
vertical thickness of barrier-reefs, from their outer edges to the
foundation on which they rest (from AA in the section to the dotted
lines) is really great; but in this, there is no difficulty, for it is
not necessary to suppose that the coral has sprung up from an immense
depth, as will be evident when the theory of the upward growth of
coral-reefs, during the slow subsidence of their foundation, is
discussed.
CHAPTER III.
FRINGING OR SHORE-REEFS.
Reefs of Mauritius.—Shallow channel within the reef.—Its slow filling
up.—Currents of water formed within it.—Upraised reefs.—Narrow
fringing-reefs in deep seas.—Reefs on the coast of East Africa and of
Brazil.—Fringing-reefs in very shallow seas, round banks of sediment
and on worn-down islands.—Fringing-reefs affected by currents of the
sea.— Coral coating the bottom of the sea, but not forming reefs.
Fringing-reefs, or, as they have been called by some voyagers,
shore-reefs, whether skirting an island or part of a continent, might
at first be thought to differ little, except in generally being of less
breadth, from barrier-reefs. As far as the superficies of the actual
reef is concerned this is the case; but the absence of an interior
deep-water channel, and the close relation in their horizontal
extension with the probable slope beneath the sea of the adjoining
land, present essential points of difference.
The reefs which fringe the island of Mauritius offer a good example of
this class. They extend round its whole circumference, with the
exception of two or three parts (This fact is stated on the authority
of the Officier du Roi, in his extremely interesting “Voyage a l’Isle
de France,” undertaken in 1768. According to Captain Carmichael
(Hooker’s “Bot. Misc.” volume ii., page 316) on one part of the coast
there is a space for sixteen miles without a reef.), where the coast is
almost precipitous, and where, if as is probable the bottom of the sea
has a similar inclination, the coral would have no foundation on which
to become attached. A similar fact may sometimes be observed even in
reefs of the barrier class, which follow much less closely the outline
of the adjoining land; as, for instance, on the south-east and
precipitous side of Tahiti, where the encircling reef is interrupted.
On the western side of the Mauritius, which was the only part I
visited, the reef generally lies at the distance of about half a mile
from the shore; but in some parts it is distant from one to two, and
even three miles. But even in this last case, as the coast-land is
gently inclined from the foot of the mountains to the sea-beach, and as
the soundings outside the reef indicate an equally gentle slope beneath
the water, there is no reason for supposing that the basis of the reef,
formed by the prolongation of the strata of the island, lies at a
greater depth than that at which the polypifers could begin
constructing the reef. Some allowance, however, must be made for the
outward extension of the corals on a foundation of sand and detritus,
formed from their own wear, which would give to the reef a somewhat
greater vertical thickness, than would otherwise be possible.
The outer edge of the reef on the western or leeward side of the island
is tolerably well defined, and is a little higher than any other part.
It chiefly consists of large strongly branched corals, of the genus
Madrepora, which also form a sloping bed some way out to sea: the kinds
of coral growing in this part will be described in the ensuing chapter.
Between the outer margin and the beach, there is a flat space with a
sandy bottom and a few tufts of living coral; in some parts it is so
shallow, that people, by avoiding the deeper holes and gullies, can
wade across it at low water; in other parts it is deeper, seldom
however exceeding ten or twelve feet, so that it offers a safe coasting
channel for boats. On the eastern and windward side of the island,
which is exposed to a heavy surf, the reef was described to me as
having a hard smooth surface, very slightly inclined inwards, just
covered at low-water, and traversed by gullies; it appears to be quite
similar in structure to the reefs of the barrier and atoll classes.
The reef of Mauritius, in front of every river and streamlet, is
breached by a straight passage: at Grand Port, however, there is a
channel like that within a barrier-reef; it extends parallel to the
shore for four miles, and has an average depth of ten or twelve
fathoms; its presence may probably be accounted for by two rivers which
enter at each end of the channel, and bend towards each other. The fact
of reefs of the fringing class being always breached in front of
streams, even of those which are dry during the greater part of the
year, will be explained, when the conditions unfavourable to the growth
of coral are considered. Low coral-islets, like those on barrier-reefs
and atolls, are seldom formed on reefs of this class, owing apparently
in some cases to their narrowness, and in others to the gentle slope of
the reef outside not yielding many fragments to the breakers. On the
windward side, however, of the Mauritius, two or three small islets
have been formed.
It appears, as will be shown in the ensuing chapter, that the action of
the surf is favourable to the vigorous growth of the stronger corals,
and that sand or sediment, if agitated by the waves, is injurious to
them. Hence it is probable that a reef on a shelving shore, like that
of Mauritius, would at first grow up, not attached to the actual beach,
but at some little distance from it; and the corals on the outer margin
would be the most vigorous. A shallow channel would thus be formed
within the reef, and as the breakers are prevented acting on the shores
of the island, and as they do not ordinarily tear up many fragments
from the outside, and as every streamlet has its bed prolonged in a
straight line through the reef, this channel could be filled up only
very slowly with sediment. But a beach of sand and of fragments of the
smaller kinds of coral seems, in the case of Mauritius, to be slowly
encroaching on the shallow channel. On many shelving and sandy coasts,
the breakers tend to form a bar of sand a little way from the beach,
with a slight increase of depth within it; for instance, Captain Grey
(Captain Grey’s “Journal of Two Expeditions,” volume i. page 369.)
states that the west coast of Australia, in latitude 24 deg., is
fronted by a sand bar about two hundred yards in width, on which there
is only two feet of water; but within it the depth increases to two
fathoms. Similar bars, more or less perfect, occur on other coasts. In
these cases I suspect that the shallow channel (which no doubt during
storms is occasionally obliterated) is scooped out by the flowing away
of the water thrown beyond the line, on which the waves break with the
greatest force. At Pernambuco a bar of hard sandstone (I have described
this singular structure in the “London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag.”
October 1841.), which has the same external form and height as a
coral-reef, extends nearly parallel to the coast; within this bar
currents, apparently caused by the water thrown over it during the
greater part of each tide, run strongly, and are wearing away its inner
wall. From these facts it can hardly be doubted, that within most
fringing-reefs, especially within those lying some distance from the
land, a return stream must carry away the water thrown over the outer
edge; and the current thus produced, would tend to prevent the channel
being filled up with sediment, and might even deepen it under certain
circumstances. To this latter belief I am led, by finding that channels
are almost universally present within the fringing-reefs of those
islands which have undergone recent elevatory movements; and this could
hardly have been the case, if the conversion of the very shallow
channel into land had not been counteracted to a certain extent.
A fringing-reef, if elevated in a perfect condition above the level of
the sea, ought to present the singular appearance of a broad dry moat
within a low mound. The author (“Voyage a l’Isle de France, par un
Officier du Roi,” part i., pages 192, 200.) of an interesting
pedestrian tour round the Mauritius, seems to have met with a structure
of this kind: he says “J’observai que la, ou la mer etale,
independamment des rescifs du large, il y a terre UNE ESPECE
D’EFFONCEMENT ou chemin couvert naturel. On y pourrait mettre du
canon,” etc. In another place he adds, “Avant de passer le Cap, on
remarque un gros banc de corail eleve de plus de quinze pieds: c’est
une espece de rescif, que la mer abandonne, il regne au pied une longue
flaque d’eau, dont on pourrait faire un bassin pour de petits
vaisseaux.” But the margin of the reef, although the highest and most
perfect part, from being most exposed to the surf, would generally
during a slow rise of the land be either partially or entirely worn
down to that level, at which corals could renew their growth on its
upper edge. On some parts of the coast-land of Mauritius there are
little hillocks of coral-rock, which are either the last remnants of a
continuous reef, or of low islets formed on it. I observed that two
such hillocks between Tamarin Bay and the Great Black River; they were
nearly twenty feet high, about two hundred yards from the present
beach, and about thirty feet above its level. They rose abruptly from a
smooth surface, strewed with worn fragments of coral. They consisted in
their lower part of hard calcareous sandstone, and in their upper of
great blocks of several species of Astræa and Madrepora, loosely
aggregated; they were divided into irregular beds, dipping seaward, in
one hillock at an angle of 8 deg., and in the other at 18 deg. I
suspect that the superficial parts of the reefs, which have been
upraised together with the islands they fringe, have generally been
much more modified by the wearing action of the sea, than those of
Mauritius.
Many islands are fringed by reefs quite similar to those of Mauritius
(I may give Cuba, as another instance; Mr. Taylor (“Loudon’s Mag. of
Nat. Hist.” volume ix., page 449) has described a reef several miles in
length between Gibara and Vjaro, which extends parallel to the shore at
the distance of between half and the third part of a mile, and encloses
a space of shallow water, with a sandy bottom and tufts of coral.
Outside the edge of the reef, which is formed of great branching
corals, the depth is six and seven fathoms. This coast has been
upheaved at no very distant geological period.”); but on coasts where
the sea deepens very suddenly the reefs are much narrower, and their
limited extension seems evidently to depend on the high inclination of
the submarine slope; a relation, which, as we have seen, does not exist
in reefs of the barrier class. The fringing-reefs on steep coasts are
frequently not more than from fifty to one hundred yards in width; they
have a nearly smooth, hard surface, scarcely uncovered at low water,
and without any interior shoal channel, like that within those
fringing-reefs, which lie at a greater distance from the land. The
fragments torn up during gales from the outer margin are thrown over
the reef on the shores of the island. I may give as instances, Wateeo,
where the reef is described by Cook as being a hundred yards wide; and
Mauti and Elizabeth Islands (Mauti is described by Lord Byron in the
voyage of H.M.S. “Blonde”, and Elizabeth Island by Captain Beechey.),
where it is only fifty yards in width: the sea round these islands is
very deep.
Fringing-reefs, like barrier-reefs, both surround islands, and front
the shores of continents. In the charts of the eastern coast of Africa,
by Captain Owen, many extensive fringing-reefs are laid down; thus, for
a space of nearly forty miles, from latitude 1 deg 15′ to 1 deg 45′ S.,
a reef fringes the shore at an average distance of rather more than one
mile, and therefore at a greater distance than is usual in reefs of
this class; but as the coast-land is not lofty, and as the bottom
shoals very gradually (the depth being only from eight to fourteen
fathoms at a mile and a half outside the reef), its extension thus far
from the land offers no difficulty. The external margin of this reef is
described, as formed of projecting points, within which there is a
space, from six to twelve feet deep, with patches of living coral on
it. At Mukdeesha (latitude 2 deg 1′ N.) “the port is formed,” it is
said (Owen’s “Africa,” volume i., page 357, from which work the
foregoing facts are likewise taken.) “by a long reef extending
eastward, four or five miles, within which there is a narrow channel,
with ten to twelve feet of water at low spring-tides;” it lies at the
distance of a quarter of a mile from the shore. Again, in the plan of
Mombas (latitude 4 deg S.), a reef extends for thirty-six miles, at the
distance of from half a mile to one mile and a quarter from the shore;
within it, there is a channel navigable “for canoes and small craft,”
between six and fifteen feet deep: outside the reef the depth is about
thirty fathoms at the distance of nearly half a mile. Part of this reef
is very symmetrical, and has a uniform breadth of two hundred yards.
The coast of Brazil is in many parts fringed by reefs. Of these, some
are not of coral formation; for instance, those near Bahia and in front
of Pernambuco; but a few miles south of this latter city, the reef
follows (See Baron Roussin’s “Pilote du Bresil,” and accompanying
hydrographical memoir.) so closely every turn of the shore, that I can
hardly doubt it is of coral; it runs at the distance of three-quarters
of a mile from the land, and within it the depth is from ten to fifteen
feet. I was assured by an intelligent pilot that at Ports Frances and
Maceio, the outer part of the reef consists of living coral, and the
inner of a white stone, full of large irregular cavities, communicating
with the sea. The bottom of the sea off the coast of Brazil shoals
gradually to between thirty and forty fathoms, at the distance of
between nine and ten leagues from the land.
From the description now given, we must conclude that the dimensions
and structure of fringing-reefs depend entirely on the greater or less
inclination of the submarine slope, conjoined with the fact that
reef-building polypifers can exist only at limited depths. It follows
from this, that where the sea is very shallow, as in the Persian Gulf
and in parts of the East Indian Archipelago, the reefs lose their
fringing character, and appear as separate and irregularly scattered
patches, often of considerable area. From the more vigorous growth of
the coral on the outside, and from the conditions being less favourable
in several respects within, such reefs are generally higher and more
perfect in their marginal than in their central parts; hence these
reefs sometimes assume (and this circumstance ought not to be
overlooked) the appearance of atolls; but they differ from atolls in
their central expanse being much less deep, in their form being less
defined, and in being based on a shallow foundation. But when in a deep
sea reefs fringe banks of sediment, which have accumulated beneath the
surface, round either islands or submerged rocks, they are
distinguished with difficulty on the one hand from encircling
barrier-reefs, and on the other from atolls. In the West Indies there
are reefs, which I should probably have arranged under both these
classes, had not the existence of large and level banks, lying a little
beneath the surface, ready to serve as the basis for the attachment of
coral, been occasionally brought into view by the entire or partial
absence of reefs on them, and had not the formation of such banks,
through the accumulation of sediment now in progress, been sufficiently
evident. Fringing-reefs sometimes coat, and thus protect the
foundations of islands, which have been worn down by the surf to the
level of the sea. According to Ehrenberg, this has been extensively the
case with the islands in the Red Sea, which formerly ranged parallel to
the shores of the mainland, with deep water within them: hence the
reefs now coating their bases are situated relatively to the land like
barrier-reefs, although not belonging to that class; but there are, as
I believe, in the Red Sea some true barrier-reefs. The reefs of this
sea and of the West Indies will be described in the Appendix. In some
cases, fringing-reefs appear to be considerably modified in outline by
the course of the prevailing currents. Dr. J. Allan informs me that on
the east coast of Madagascar almost every headland and low point of
sand has a coral-reef extending from it in a S.W. and N.E. line,
parallel to the currents on that shore. I should think the influence of
the currents chiefly consisted in causing an extension, in a certain
direction, of a proper foundation for the attachment of the coral.
Round many intertropical islands, for instance the Abrolhos on the
coast of Brazil surveyed by Captain Fitzroy, and, as I am informed by
Mr. Cuming, round the Philippines, the bottom of the sea is entirely
coated by irregular masses of coral, which although often of large
size, do not reach the surface and form proper reefs. This must be
owing, either to insufficient growth, or to the absence of those kinds
of corals which can withstand the breaking of the waves.
The three classes, atoll-formed, barrier, and fringing-reefs, together
with the modifications just described of the latter, include all the
most remarkable coral formations anywhere existing. At the commencement
of the last chapter in the volume, where I detail the principles on
which the map (Plate III.) is coloured, the exceptional cases will be
enumerated.
CHAPTER IV.
ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS.
In this chapter I will give all the facts which I have collected,
relating to the distribution of coral-reefs,—to the conditions
favourable to their increase,—to the rate of their growth,—and to the
depth at which they are formed.
These subjects have an important bearing on the theory of the origin of
the different classes of coral-reefs.
SECTION I.—ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS, AND ON THE CONDITIONS
FAVOURABLE TO THEIR INCREASE.
With regard to the limits of latitude, over which coral-reefs extend, I
have nothing new to add. The Bermuda Islands, in 32 deg 15′ N., is the
point furthest removed from the equator, in which they appear to exist;
and it has been suggested that their extension so far northward in this
instance is owing to the warmth of the Gulf Stream. In the Pacific, the
Loo Choo Islands, in latitude 27 deg N., have reefs on their shores,
and there is an atoll in 28 deg 30′, situated N.W. of the Sandwich
Archipelago. In the Red Sea there are coral-reefs in latitude 30 deg.
In the southern hemisphere coral-reefs do not extend so far from the
equatorial sea. In the Southern Pacific there are only a few reefs
beyond the line of the tropics, but Houtmans Abrolhos, on the western
shores of Australia in latitude 29 deg S., are of coral formation.
The proximity of volcanic land, owing to the lime generally evolved
from it, has been thought to be favourable to the increase of
coral-reefs. There is, however, not much foundation for this view; for
nowhere are coral-reefs more extensive than on the shores of New
Caledonia, and of north-eastern Australia, which consist of primary
formations; and in the largest groups of atolls, namely the Maldiva,
Chagos, Marshall, Gilbert, and Low Archipelagoes, there is no volcanic
or other kind of rock, excepting that formed of coral.
The entire absence of coral-reefs in certain large areas within the
tropical seas, is a remarkable fact. Thus no coral-reefs were observed,
during the surveying voyages of the “Beagle” and her tender on the west
coast of South America south of the equator, or round the Galapagos
Islands. It appears, also, that there are none (I have been informed
that this is the case, by Lieutenant Ryder, R.N., and others who have
had ample opportunities for observation.) north of the equator; Mr.
Lloyd, who surveyed the Isthmus of Panama, remarked to me, that
although he had seen corals living in the Bay of Panama, yet he had
never observed any reefs formed by them. I at first attributed this
absence of reefs on the coasts of Peru and of the Galapagos Islands
(The mean temperature of the surface sea from observations made by the
direction of Captain Fitzroy on the shores of the Galapagos Islands,
between the 16th of September and the 20th of October, 1835, was 68 deg
Fahr. The lowest temperature observed was 58.5 deg at the south-west
end of Albemarle Island; and on the west coast of this island, it was
several times 62 deg and 63 deg. The mean temperature of the sea in the
Low Archipelago of atolls, and near Tahiti, from similar observations
made on board the “Beagle”, was (although further from the equator)
77.5 deg, the lowest any day being 76.5 deg. Therefore we have here a
difference of 9.5 deg in mean temperature, and 18 deg in extremes; a
difference doubtless quite sufficient to affect the distribution of
organic beings in the two areas.), to the coldness of the currents from
the south, but the Gulf of Panama is one of the hottest pelagic
districts in the world. (Humboldt’s “Personal Narrative,” volume vii.,
page 434.) In the central parts of the Pacific there are islands
entirely free from reefs; in some few of these cases I have thought
that this was owing to recent volcanic action; but the existence of
reefs round the greater part of Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands,
shows that recent volcanic action does not necessarily prevent their
growth.
In the last chapter I stated that the bottom of the sea round some
islands is thickly coated with living corals, which nevertheless do not
form reefs, either from insufficient growth, or from the species not
being adapted to contend with the breaking waves.
I have been assured by several people, that there are no coral-reefs on
the west coast of Africa (It might be concluded, from a paper by
Captain Owen (“Geographical Journal”, volume ii., page 89), that the
reefs off Cape St. Anne and the Sherboro’ Islands were of coral,
although the author states that they are not purely coralline. But I
have been assured by Lieutenant Holland, R.N., that these reefs are not
of coral, or at least that they do not at all resemble those in the
West Indies.), or round the islands in the Gulf of Guinea. This perhaps
may be attributed, in part, to the sediment brought down by the many
rivers debouching on that coast, and to the extensive mud-banks, which
line great part of it. But the islands of St. Helena, Ascension, the
Cape Verdes, St. Paul’s, and Fernando Noronha, are, also, entirely
without reefs, although they lie far out at sea, are composed of the
same ancient volcanic rocks, and have the same general form, with those
islands in the Pacific, the shores of which are surrounded by gigantic
walls of coral-rock. With the exception of Bermuda, there is not a
single coral-reef in the central expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. It
will, perhaps, be suggested that the quantity of carbonate of lime in
different parts of the sea, may regulate the presence of reefs. But
this cannot be the case, for at Ascension, the waves charged to excess
precipitate a thick layer of calcareous matter on the tidal rocks; and
at St. Jago, in the Cape Verdes, carbonate of lime not only is abundant
on the shores, but it forms the chief part of some upraised
post-tertiary strata. The apparently capricious distribution,
therefore, of coral-reefs, cannot be explained by any of these obvious
causes; but as the study of the terrestrial and better known half of
the world must convince every one that no station capable of supporting
life is lost,—nay more, that there is a struggle for each station,
between the different orders of nature,—we may conclude that in those
parts of the intertropical sea, in which there are no coral-reefs,
there are other organic bodies supplying the place of the reef-building
polypifers. It has been shown in the chapter on Keeling atoll that
there are some species of large fish, and the whole tribe of
Holothuriae which prey on the tenderer parts of the corals. On the
other hand, the polypifers in their turn must prey on some other
organic beings; the decrease of which from any cause would cause a
proportionate destruction of the living coral. The relations,
therefore, which determine the formation of reefs on any shore, by the
vigorous growth of the efficient kinds of coral, must be very complex,
and with our imperfect knowledge quite inexplicable. From these
considerations, we may infer that changes in the condition of the sea,
not obvious to our senses, might destroy all the coral-reefs in one
area, and cause them to appear in another: thus, the Pacific or Indian
Ocean might become as barren of coral-reefs as the Atlantic now is,
without our being able to assign any adequate cause for such a change.
It has been a question with some naturalists, which part of a reef is
most favourable to the growth of coral. The great mounds of living
Porites and of Millepora round Keeling atoll occur exclusively on the
extreme verge of the reef, which is washed by a constant succession of
breakers; and living coral nowhere else forms solid masses. At the
Marshall islands the larger kinds of coral (chiefly species of Astræa,
a genus closely allied to Porites) “which form rocks measuring several
fathoms in thickness,” prefer, according to Chamisso (Kotzebue’s “First
Voyage” (English Translation), volume iii., pages 142, 143, 331.), the
most violent surf. I have stated that the outer margin of the Maldiva
atolls consists of living corals (some of which, if not all, are of the
same species with those at Keeling atoll), and here the surf is so
tremendous, that even large ships have been thrown, by a single heave
of the sea, high and dry on the reef, all on board thus escaping with
their lives.
Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, “Uber die Natur und Bildung der Corallen Banke im
rothen Meere,” page 49.) remarks, that in the Red Sea the strongest
corals live on the outer reefs, and appear to love the surf; he adds,
that the more branched kinds abound a little way within, but that even
these in still more protected places, become smaller. Many other facts
having a similar tendency might be adduced. (In the West Indies, as I
am informed by Captain Bird Allen, R.N., it is the common belief of
those, who are best acquainted with the reefs, that the coral
flourishes most, where freely exposed to the swell of the open sea.) It
has, however, been doubted by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, whether any kind of
coral can even withstand, much less flourish in, the breakers of an
open sea (“Annales des Sciences Naturelles,” tome vi., pages 276,
278.—“La ou les ondes sont agitees, les Lytophytes ne peuvent
travailler, parce qu’elles detruiraient leurs fragiles edifices,”
etc.): they affirm that the saxigenous lithophytes flourish only where
the water is tranquil, and the heat intense. This statement has passed
from one geological work to another; nevertheless, the protection of
the whole reef undoubtedly is due to those kinds of coral, which cannot
exist in the situations thought by these naturalists to be most
favourable to them. For should the outer and living margin perish, of
any one of the many low coral-islands, round which a line of great
breakers is incessantly foaming, the whole, it is scarcely possible to
doubt, would be washed away and destroyed, in less than half a century.
But the vital energies of the corals conquer the mechanical power of
the waves; and the large fragments of reef torn up by every storm, are
replaced by the slow but steady growth of the innumerable polypifers,
which form the living zone on its outer edge.
From these facts, it is certain, that the strongest and most massive
corals flourish, where most exposed. The less perfect state of the reef
of most atolls on the leeward and less exposed side, compared with its
state to windward; and the analogous case of the greater number of
breaches on the near sides of those atolls in the Maldiva Archipelago,
which afford some protection to each other, are obviously explained by
this circumstance. If the question had been, under what conditions the
greater number of species of coral, not regarding their bulk and
strength, were developed, I should answer,—probably in the situations
described by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, where the water is tranquil and the
heat intense. The total number of species of coral in the
circumtropical seas must be very great: in the Red Sea alone, 120
kinds, according to Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, “Uber die Natur,” etc., etc.,
page 46.), have been observed.
The same author has observed that the recoil of the sea from a steep
shore is injurious to the growth of coral, although waves breaking over
a bank are not so. Ehrenberg also states, that where there is much
sediment, placed so as to be liable to be moved by the waves there is
little or no coral; and a collection of living specimens placed by him
on a sandy shore died in the course of a few days. (Ibid., page 49.) An
experiment, however, will presently be related in which some large
masses of living coral increased rapidly in size, after having been
secured by stakes on a sandbank. That loose sediment should be
injurious to the living polypifers, appears, at first sight, probable;
and accordingly, in sounding off Keeling atoll, and (as will hereafter
be shown) off Mauritius, the arming of the lead invariably came up
clean, where the coral was growing vigorously. This same circumstance
has probably given rise to a strange belief, which, according to
Captain Owen (Captain Owen on the Geography of the Maldiva Islands,
“Geographical Journal”, volume ii., page 88.), is general amongst the
inhabitants of the Maldiva atolls, namely that corals have roots, and
therefore that if merely broken down to the surface, they grow up
again; but, if rooted out, they are permanently destroyed. By this
means the inhabitants keep their harbours clear; and thus the French
Governor of St. Mary’s in Madagascar, “cleared out and made a beautiful
little port at that place.” For it is probable that sand would
accumulate in the hollows formed by tearing out the corals, but not on
the broken and projecting stumps, and therefore, in the former case,
the fresh growth of the coral might be thus prevented.
In the last chapter I remarked that fringing-reefs are almost
universally breached, where streams enter the sea. (Lieutenant
Wellstead and others have remarked that this is the case in the Red
Sea; Dr. Ruppell (“Reise in Abyss.” Band. i., page 142) says that there
are pear-shaped harbours in the upraised coral-coast, into which
periodical streams enter. From this circumstance, I presume, we must
infer that before the upheaval of the strata now forming the
coast-land, fresh water and sediment entered the sea at these points;
and the coral being thus prevented growing, the pear-shaped harbours
were produced.) Most authors have attributed this fact to the injurious
effects of the fresh water, even where it enters the sea only in small
quantity, and during a part of the year. No doubt brackish water would
prevent or retard the growth of coral; but I believe that the mud and
sand which is deposited, even by rivulets when flooded, is a much more
efficient check. The reef on each side of the channel leading into Port
Louis at Mauritius, ends abruptly in a wall, at the foot of which I
sounded and found a bed of thick mud. This steepness of the sides
appears to be a general character in such breaches. Cook (Cook’s “First
Voyage,” volume ii., page 271 (Hawkesworth’s edition).), speaking of
one at Raiatea, says, “like all the rest, it is very steep on both
sides.” Now, if it were the fresh water mingling with the salt which
prevented the growth of coral, the reef certainly would not terminate
abruptly, but as the polypifers nearest the impure stream would grow
less vigorously than those farther off, so would the reef gradually
thin away. On the other hand, the sediment brought down from the land
would only prevent the growth of the coral in the line of its
deposition, but would not check it on the side, so that the reefs might
increase till they overhung the bed of the channel. The breaches are
much fewer in number, and front only the larger valleys in reefs of the
encircling barrier class. They probably are kept open in the same
manner as those into the lagoon of an atoll, namely, by the force of
the currents and the drifting outwards of fine sediment. Their position
in front of valleys, although often separated from the land by deep
water lagoon-channels, which it might be thought would entirely remove
the injurious effects both of the fresh water and the sediment, will
receive a simple explanation when we discuss the origin of
barrier-reefs.
In the vegetable kingdom every different station has its peculiar group
of plants, and similar relations appear to prevail with corals. We have
already described the great difference between the corals within the
lagoon of an atoll and those on its outer margin. The corals, also, on
the margin of Keeling Island occurred in zones; thus the Porites and
Millepora complanata grow to a large size only where they are washed by
a heavy sea, and are killed by a short exposure to the air; whereas,
three species of Nullipora also live amidst the breakers, but are able
to survive uncovered for a part of each tide; at greater depths, a
strong Madrepora and Millepora alcicornis are the commonest kinds, the
former appearing to be confined to this part, beneath the zone of
massive corals, minute encrusting corallines and other organic bodies
live. If we compare the external margin of the reef at Keeling atoll
with that on the leeward side of Mauritius, which are very differently
circumstanced, we shall find a corresponding difference in the
appearance of the corals. At the latter place, the genus Madrepora is
preponderant over every other kind, and beneath the zone of massive
corals there are large beds of Seriatopora. There is also a marked
difference, according to Captain Moresby (Captain Moresby on the
Northern Maldiva atolls, “Geographical Journal”, volume v., page 401.),
between the great branching corals of the Red Sea, and those on the
reefs of the Maldiva atolls.
These facts, which in themselves are deserving of notice, bear,
perhaps, not very remotely, on a remarkable circumstance which has been
pointed out to me by Captain Moresby, namely, that with very few
exceptions, none of the coral-knolls within the lagoons of Peros
Banhos, Diego Garcia, and the Great Chagos Bank (all situated in the
Chagos group), rise to the surface of the water; whereas all those,
with equally few exceptions, within Solomon and Egmont atolls in the
same group, and likewise within the large southern Maldiva atolls,
reach the surface. I make these statements, after having examined the
charts of each atoll. In the lagoon of Peros Banhos, which is nearly
twenty miles across, there is only one single reef which rises to the
surface; in Diego Garcia there are seven, but several of these lie
close to the margin of the lagoon, and need scarcely have been
reckoned; in the Great Chagos Bank there is not one. On the other hand,
in the lagoons of some of the great southern Maldiva atolls, although
thickly studded with reefs, every one without exception rises to the
surface; and on an average there are less than two submerged reefs in
each atoll; in the northern atolls, however, the submerged lagoon-reefs
are not quite so rare. The submerged reefs in the Chagos atolls
generally have from one to seven fathoms water on them, but some have
from seven to ten. Most of them are small with very steep sides (Some
of these statements were not communicated to me verbally by Captain
Moresby, but are taken from the MS. account before alluded to, of the
Chagos Group.); at Peros Banhos they rise from a depth of about thirty
fathoms, and some of them in the Great Chagos Bank from above forty
fathoms; they are covered, Captain Moresby informs me, with living and
healthy coral, two and three feet high, consisting of several species.
Why then have not these lagoon-reefs reached the surface, like the
innumerable ones in the atolls above named? If we attempt to assign any
difference in their external conditions, as the cause of this
diversity, we are at once baffled. The lagoon of Diego Garcia is not
deep, and is almost wholly surrounded by its reef; Peros Banhos is very
deep, much larger, with many wide passages communicating with the open
sea. On the other hand, of those atolls, in which all or nearly all the
lagoon-reefs have reached the surface, some are small, others large,
some shallow, others deep, some well-enclosed, and others open.
Captain Moresby informs me that he has seen a French chart of Diego
Garcia made eighty years before his survey, and apparently very
accurate; and from it he infers, that during this interval there has
not been the smallest change in the depth on any of the knolls within
the lagoon. It is also known that during the last fifty-one years, the
eastern channel into the lagoon has neither become narrower, nor
decreased in depth; and as there are numerous small knolls of living
coral within it, some change might have been anticipated. Moreover, as
the whole reef round the lagoon of this atoll has been converted into
land—an unparalleled case, I believe, in an atoll of such large
size,—and as the strip of land is for considerable spaces more than
half a mile wide—also a very unusual circumstance,—we have the best
possible evidence, that Diego Garcia has remained at its present level
for a very long period. With this fact, and with the knowledge that no
sensible change has taken place during eighty years in the
coral-knolls, and considering that every single reef has reached the
surface in other atolls, which do not present the smallest appearance
of being older than Diego Garcia and Peros Banhos, and which are placed
under the same external conditions with them, one is led to conclude
that these submerged reefs, although covered with luxuriant coral, have
no tendency to grow upwards, and that they would remain at their
present levels for an almost indefinite period.
From the number of these knolls, from their position, size, and form,
many of them being only one or two hundred yards across, with a rounded
outline, and precipitous sides,—it is indisputable that they have been
formed by the growth of coral; and this makes the case much more
remarkable. In Peros Banhos and in the Great Chagos Bank, some of these
almost columnar masses are 200 feet high, and their summits lie only
from two to eight fathoms beneath the surface; therefore, a small
proportional amount more of growth would cause them to attain the
surface, like those numerous knolls, which rise from an equally great
depth within the Maldiva atolls. We can hardly suppose that time has
been wanting for the upward growth of the coral, whilst in Diego
Garcia, the broad annular strip of land, formed by the continued
accumulation of detritus, shows how long this atoll has remained at its
present level. We must look to some other cause than the rate of
growth; and I suspect it will be found in the reefs being formed of
different species of corals, adapted to live at different depths.
The Great Chagos Bank is situated in the centre of the Chagos Group,
and the Pitt and Speaker Banks at its two extreme points. These banks
resemble atolls, except in their external rim being about eight fathoms
submerged, and in being formed of dead rock, with very little living
coral on it: a portion nine miles long of the annular reef of Peros
Banhos atoll is in the same condition. These facts, as will hereafter
be shown, render it very probable that the whole group at some former
period subsided seven or eight fathoms; and that the coral perished on
the outer margin of those atolls which are now submerged, but that it
continued alive, and grew up to the surface on those which are now
perfect. If these atolls did subside, and if from the suddenness of the
movement or from any other cause, those corals which are better adapted
to live at a certain depth than at the surface, once got possession of
the knolls, supplanting the former occupants, they would exert little
or no tendency to grow upwards. To illustrate this, I may observe, that
if the corals of the upper zone on the outer edge of Keeling atoll were
to perish, it is improbable that those of the lower zone would grow to
the surface, and thus become exposed to conditions for which they do
not appear to be adapted. The conjecture, that the corals on the
submerged knolls within the Chagos atolls have analogous habits with
those of the lower zone outside Keeling atoll, receives some support
from a remark by Captain Moresby, namely, that they have a different
appearance from those on the reefs in the Maldiva atolls, which, as we
have seen, all rise to the surface: he compares the kind of difference
to that of the vegetation under different climates. I have entered at
considerable length into this case, although unable to throw much light
on it, in order to show that an equal tendency to upward growth ought
not to be attributed to all coral-reefs,—to those situated at different
depths,—to those forming the ring of an atoll or those on the knolls
within a lagoon,—to those in one area and those in another. The
inference, therefore, that one reef could not grow up to the surface
within a given time, because another, not known to be covered with the
same species of corals, and not known to be placed under conditions
exactly the same, has not within the same time reached the surface, is
unsound.
SECTION II.—ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS.
The remark made at the close of the last section, naturally leads to
this division of our subject, which has not, I think, hitherto been
considered under a right point of view. Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, as before
cited, pages 39, 46, and 50.) has stated, that in the Red Sea, the
corals only coat other rocks in a layer from one to two feet in
thickness, or at most to a fathom and a half; and he disbelieves that,
in any case, they form, by their own proper growth, great masses,
stratum over stratum. A nearly similar observation has been made by MM.
Quoy and Gaimard (“Annales des Sciences Nat.” tom. vi., page 28.), with
respect to the thickness of some upraised beds of coral, which they
examined at Timor and some other places. Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, ut sup.,
page 42.) saw certain large massive corals in the Red Sea, which he
imagines to be of such vast antiquity, that they might have been beheld
by Pharaoh; and according to Mr. Lyell (Lyell’s “Principles of
Geology,” book iii., chapter xviii.) there are certain corals at
Bermuda, which are known by tradition, to have been living for
centuries. To show how slowly coral-reefs grow upwards, Captain Beechey
(Beechey’s “Voyage to the Pacific,” chapter viii.) has adduced the case
of the Dolphin Reef off Tahiti, which has remained at the same depth
beneath the surface, namely about two fathoms and a half, for a period
of sixty-seven years. There are reefs in the Red Sea, which certainly
do not appear (Ehrenberg, ut sup., page 43.) to have increased in
dimensions during the last half-century, and from the comparison of old
charts with recent surveys, probably not during the last two hundred
years. These, and other similar facts, have so strongly impressed many
with the belief of the extreme slowness of the growth of corals, that
they have even doubted the possibility of islands in the great oceans
having been formed by their agency. Others, again, who have not been
overwhelmed by this difficulty, have admitted that it would require
thousands, and tens of thousands of years, to form a mass, even of
inconsiderable thickness; but the subject has not, I believe, been
viewed in the proper light.
That masses of considerable thickness have been formed by the growth of
coral, may be inferred with certainty from the following facts. In the
deep lagoons of Peros Banhos and of the Great Chagos Bank, there are,
as already described, small steep-sided knolls covered with living
coral. There are similar knolls in the southern Maldiva atolls, some of
which, as Captain Moresby assures me, are less than a hundred yards in
diameter, and rise to the surface from a depth of between two hundred
and fifty and three hundred feet. Considering their number, form, and
position, it would be preposterous to suppose that they are based on
pinnacles of any rock, not of coral formation; or that sediment could
have been heaped up into such small and steep isolated cones. As no
kind of living coral grows above the height of a few feet, we are
compelled to suppose that these knolls have been formed by the
successive growth and death of many individuals,—first one being broken
off or killed by some accident, and then another, and one set of
species being replaced by another set with different habits, as the
reef rose nearer the surface, or as other changes supervened. The
spaces between the corals would become filled up with fragments and
sand, and such matter would probably soon be consolidated, for we learn
from Lieutenant Nelson (“Geological Transactions,” volume v., page
113.), that at Bermuda a process of this kind takes place beneath
water, without the aid of evaporation. In reefs, also, of the barrier
class, we may feel sure, as I have shown, that masses of great
thickness have been formed by the growth of the coral; in the case of
Vanikoro, judging only from the depth of the moat between the land and
the reef, the wall of coral-rock must be at least three hundred feet in
vertical thickness.
It is unfortunate that the upraised coral-islands in the Pacific have
not been examined by a geologist. The cliffs of Elizabeth Island, in
the Low Archipelago, are eighty feet high, and appear, from Captain
Beechey’s description, to consist of a homogeneous coral-rock. From the
isolated position of this island, we may safely infer that it is an
upraised atoll, and therefore that it has been formed by masses of
coral, grown together. Savage Island seems, from the description of the
younger Forster (Forster’s “Voyage round the World with Cook,” volume
ii., pages 163, 167.), to have a similar structure, and its shores are
about forty feet high: some of the Cook Islands also appear (Williams’s
“Narrative of Missionary Enterprise,” page 30.) to be similarly
composed. Captain Belcher, R.N., in a letter which Captain Beaufort
showed me at the admiralty, speaking of Bow atoll, says, “I have
succeeded in boring forty-five feet through coral-sand, when the auger
became jammed by the falling in of the surrounding CREAMY matter.” On
one of the Maldiva atolls, Captain Moresby bored to a depth of
twenty-six feet, when his auger also broke: he has had the kindness to
give me the matter brought up; it is perfectly white, and like finely
triturated coral-rock.
In my description of Keeling atoll, I have given some facts, which show
that the reef probably has grown outwards; and I have found, just
within the outer margin, the great mounds of Porites and of Millepora,
with their summits lately killed, and their sides subsequently
thickened by the growth of the coral: a layer, also, of Nullipora had
already coated the dead surface. As the external slope of the reef is
the same round the whole of this atoll, and round many other atolls,
the angle of inclination must result from an adaption between the
growing powers of the coral, and the force of the breakers, and their
action on the loose sediment. The reef, therefore, could not increase
outwards, without a nearly equal addition to every part of the slope,
so that the original inclination might be preserved, and this would
require a large amount of sediment, all derived from the wear of corals
and shells, to be added to the lower part. Moreover, at Keeling atoll,
and probably in many other cases, the different kinds of corals would
have to encroach on each other; thus the Nulliporæ cannot increase
outwards without encroaching on the Porites and Millepora complanata,
as is now taking place; nor these latter without encroaching on the
strongly branched Madreporet, the Millepora alcicornis, and some
Astræas; nor these again without a foundation being formed for them
within the requisite depth, by the accumulation of sediment. How slow,
then, must be the ordinary lateral or outward growth of such reefs. But
off Christmas atoll, where the sea is much more shallow than is usual,
we have good reason to believe that, within a period not very remote,
the reef has increased considerably in width. The land has the
extraordinary breadth of three miles; it consists of parallel ridges of
shells and broken corals, which furnish “an incontestable proof,” as
observed by Cook (Cook’s “Third Voyage,” book III., chapter x.), “that
the island has been produced by accessions from the sea, and is in a
state of increase.” The land is fronted by a coral-reef, and from the
manner in which islets are known to be formed, we may feel confident
that the reef was not three miles wide, when the first, or most
backward ridge, was thrown up; and, therefore, we must conclude that
the reef has grown outwards during the accumulation of the successive
ridges. Here then, a wall of coral-rock of very considerable breadth
has been formed by the outward growth of the living margin, within a
period during which ridges of shells and corals, lying on the bare
surface, have not decayed. There can be little doubt, from the account
given by Captain Beechey, that Matilda atoll, in the Low Archipelago,
has been converted in the space of thirty-four years, from being, as
described by the crew of a wrecked whaling vessel, a “reef of rocks”
into a lagoon-island, fourteen miles in length, with “one of its sides
covered nearly the whole way with high trees.” (Beechey’s “Voyage to
the Pacific,” chapter vii. and viii.) The islets, also, on Keeling
atoll, it has been shown, have increased in length, and since the
construction of an old chart, several of them have become united into
one long islet; but in this case, and in that of Matilda atoll, we have
no proof, and can only infer as probable, that the reef, that is the
foundation of the islets, has increased as well as the islets
themselves.
After these considerations, I attach little importance, as indicating
the ordinary and still less the possible rate of OUTWARD growth of
coral-reefs, to the fact that certain reefs in the Red Sea have not
increased during a long interval of time; or to other such cases, as
that of Ouluthy atoll in the Caroline group, where every islet,
described a thousand years before by Cantova was found in the same
state by Lutke (F. Lutke’s “Voyage autour du Monde.” In the group
Elato, however, it appears that what is now the islet Falipi, is called
in Cantova’s Chart, the Banc de Falipi. It is not stated whether this
has been caused by the growth of coral, or by the accumulation of
sand.),—without it could be shown that, in these cases, the conditions
were favourable to the vigorous and unopposed growth of the corals
living in the different zones of depth, and that a proper basis for the
extent of the reef was present. The former conditions must depend on
many contingencies, and in the deep oceans where coral formations most
abound, a basis within the requisite depth can rarely be present.
Nor do I attach any importance to the fact of certain submerged reefs,
as those off Tahiti, or those within Diego Garcia not now being nearer
the surface than they were many years ago, as an indication of the rate
under favourable circumstances of the UPWARD growth of reefs; after it
has been shown, that all the reefs have grown to the surface in some of
the Chagos atolls, but that in neighbouring atolls which appear to be
of equal antiquity and to be exposed to the same external conditions,
every reef remains submerged; for we are almost driven to attribute
this to a difference, not in the rate of growth, but in the habits of
the corals in the two cases.
In an old-standing reef, the corals, which are so different in kind on
different parts of it, are probably all adapted to the stations they
occupy, and hold their places, like other organic beings, by a struggle
one with another, and with external nature; hence we may infer that
their growth would generally be slow, except under peculiarly
favourable circumstances. Almost the only natural condition, allowing a
quick upward growth of the whole surface of a reef, would be a slow
subsidence of the area in which it stood; if, for instance, Keeling
atoll were to subside two or three feet, can we doubt that the
projecting margin of live coral, about half an inch in thickness, which
surrounds the dead upper surfaces of the mounds of Porites, would in
this case form a concentric layer over them, and the reef thus increase
upwards, instead of, as at present, outwards? The Nulliporæ are now
encroaching on the Porites and Millepora, but in this case might we not
confidently expect that the latter would, in their turn, encroach on
the Nulliporæ? After a subsidence of this kind, the sea would gain on
the islets, and the great fields of dead but upright corals in the
lagoon, would be covered by a sheet of clear water; and might we not
then expect that these reefs would rise to the surface, as they
anciently did when the lagoon was less confined by islets, and as they
did within a period of ten years in the schooner-channel, cut by the
inhabitants? In one of the Maldiva atolls, a reef, which within a very
few years existed as an islet bearing cocoa-nut trees, was found by
Lieutenant Prentice “ENTIRELY COVERED WITH LIVE CORAL AND MADREPORE.”
The natives believe that the islet was washed away by a change in the
currents, but if, instead of this, it had quietly subsided, surely
every part of the island which offered a solid foundation, would in a
like manner have become coated with living coral.
Through steps such as these, any thickness of rock, composed of a
singular intermixture of various kinds of corals, shells, and
calcareous sediment, might be formed; but without subsidence, the
thickness would necessarily be determined by the depth at which the
reef-building polypifers can exist. If it be asked, at what rate in
years I suppose a reef of coral favourably circumstanced could grow up
from a given depth; I should answer, that we have no precise evidence
on this point, and comparatively little concern with it. We see, in
innumerable points over wide areas, that the rate has been sufficient,
either to bring up the reefs from various depths to the surface, or, as
is more probable, to keep them at the surface, during progressive
subsidences; and this is a much more important standard of comparison
than any cycle of years.
It may, however, be inferred from the following facts, that the rate in
years under favourable circumstances would be very far from slow. Dr.
Allan, of Forres, has, in his MS. Thesis deposited in the library of
the Edinburgh University (extracts from which I owe to the kindness of
Dr. Malcolmson), the following account of some experiments, which he
tried during his travels in the years 1830 to 1832 on the east coast of
Madagascar. “To ascertain the rise and progress of the coral-family,
and fix the number of species met with at Foul Point (latitude 17 deg
40′) twenty species of coral were taken off the reef and planted apart
on a sand-bank THREE FEET DEEP AT LOW WATER. Each portion weighed ten
pounds, and was kept in its place by stakes. Similar quantities were
placed in a clump and secured as the rest. This was done in December
1830. In July following, each detached mass was nearly level with the
sea at low water, quite immovable, and several feet long, stretching as
the parent reef, with the coast current from north to south. The masses
accumulated in a clump were found equally increased, but some of the
species in such unequal ratios, as to be growing over each other.” The
loss of Dr. Allan’s magnificent collection by shipwreck, unfortunately
prevents its being known to what genera these corals belonged; but from
the numbers experimented on, it is certain that all the more
conspicuous kinds must have been included. Dr. Allan informs me, in a
letter, that he believes it was a Madrepora, which grew most
vigorously. One may be permitted to suspect that the level of the sea
might possibly have been somewhat different at the two stated periods;
nevertheless, it is quite evident that the growth of the ten-pound
masses, during the six or seven months, at the end of which they were
found immovably fixed (It is stated by De la Beche (“Geological
Manual,” page 143), on the authority of Mr. Lloyd, who surveyed the
Isthmus of Panama, that some specimens of Polypifers, placed by him in
a sheltered pool of water, were found in the course of a few days
firmly fixed by the secretion of a stony matter, to the bottom) and
several feet in length, must have been very great. The fact of the
different kinds of coral, when placed in one clump, having increased in
extremely unequal ratios, is very interesting, as it shows the manner
in which a reef, supporting many species of coral, would probably be
affected by a change in the external conditions favouring one kind more
than another. The growth of the masses of coral in N. and S. lines
parallel to the prevailing currents, whether due to the drifting of
sediment or to the simple movement of the water, is, also, a very
interesting circumstance.
A fact, communicated to me by Lieutenant Wellstead, I.N., in some
degree corroborates the result of Dr. Allan’s experiments: it is, that
in the Persian Gulf a ship had her copper bottom encrusted in the
course of twenty months with a layer of coral, TWO FEET in thickness,
which it required great force to remove, when the vessel was docked: it
was not ascertained to what order this coral belonged. The case of the
schooner-channel choked up with coral in an interval of less than ten
years, in the lagoon of Keeling atoll, should be here borne in mind. We
may also infer, from the trouble which the inhabitants of the Maldiva
atolls take to root out, as they express it, the coral-knolls from
their harbours, that their growth can hardly be very slow. (Mr.
Stutchbury (“West of England Journal”, No. I., page 50.) has described
a specimen of Agaricia, “weighing 2 lbs. 9 oz., which surrounds a
species of oyster, whose age could not be more than two years, and yet
is completely enveloped by this dense coral.” I presume that the oyster
was living when the specimen was procured; otherwise the fact tells
nothing. Mr. Stutchbury also mentions an anchor, which had become
entirely encrusted with coral in fifty years; other cases, however, are
recorded of anchors which have long remained amidst coral-reefs without
having become coated. The anchor of the “Beagle”, in 1832, after having
been down exactly one month at Rio de Janeiro, was so thickly coated by
two species of Tubularia, that large spaces of the iron were entirely
concealed; the tufts of this horny zoophyte were between two and three
inches in length. It has been attempted to compute, but I believe
erroneously, the rate of growth of a reef, from the fact mentioned by
Captain Beechey, of the Chama gigas being embedded in coral-rock. But
it should be remembered, that some species of this genus invariably
live, both whilst young and old, in cavities, which the animal has the
power of enlarging with its growth. I saw many of these shells thus
embedded in the outer “flat” of Keeling atoll, which is composed of
dead rock; and therefore the cavities in this case had no relation
whatever with the growth of coral. M. Lesson, also, speaking of this
shell (Partie Zoolog. “Voyage de la ‘Coquille’”), has remarked, “que
constamment ses valves etaient engages completement dans la masse des
Madrepores.”)
From the facts given in this section, it may be concluded, first, that
considerable thicknesses of rock have certainly been formed within the
present geological area by the growth of coral and the accumulation of
its detritus; and, secondly, that the increase of individual corals and
of reefs, both outwards or horizontally and upwards or vertically,
under the peculiar conditions favourable to such increase, is not slow,
when referred either to the standard of the average oscillations of
level in the earth’s crust, or to the more precise but less important
one of a cycle of years.
SECTION III.—ON THE DEPTHS AT WHICH REEF-BUILDING POLYPIFERS CAN LIVE.
I have already described in detail, which might have appeared trivial,
the nature of the bottom of the sea immediately surrounding Keeling
atoll; and I will now describe with almost equal care the soundings off
the fringing-reefs of Mauritius. I have preferred this arrangement, for
the sake of grouping together facts of a similar nature. I sounded with
the wide bell-shaped lead which Captain Fitzroy used at Keeling Island,
but my examination of the bottom was confined to a few miles of coast
(between Port Louis and Tomb Bay) on the leeward side of the island.
The edge of the reef is formed of great shapeless masses of branching
Madrepores, which chiefly consist of two species,—apparently M.
corymbosa and pocillifera,— mingled with a few other kinds of coral.
These masses are separated from each other by the most irregular
gullies and cavities, into which the lead sinks many feet. Outside this
irregular border of Madrepores, the water deepens gradually to twenty
fathoms, which depth generally is found at the distance of from half to
three-quarters of a mile from the reef. A little further out the depth
is thirty fathoms, and thence the bank slopes rapidly into the depths
of the ocean. This inclination is very gentle compared with that
outside Keeling and other atolls, but compared with most coasts it is
steep. The water was so clear outside the reef, that I could
distinguish every object forming the rugged bottom. In this part, and
to a depth of eight fathoms, I sounded repeatedly, and at each cast
pounded the bottom with the broad lead, nevertheless the arming
invariably came up perfectly clean, but deeply indented. From eight to
fifteen fathoms a little calcareous sand was occasionally brought up,
but more frequently the arming was simply indented. In all this space
the two Madrepores above mentioned, and two species of Astræa, with
rather large stars, seemed the commonest kinds (Since the preceding
pages were printed off, I have received from Mr. Lyell a very
interesting pamphlet, entitled “Remarks upon Coral Formations,” etc.,
by J. Couthouy, Boston, United States, 1842. There is a statement (page
6), on the authority of the Rev. J. Williams, corroborating the remarks
made by Ehrenberg and Lyell (page 71 of this volume), on the antiquity
of certain individual corals in the Red Sea and at Bermuda; namely,
that at Upolu, one of the Navigator Islands, “particular clumps of
coral are known to the fishermen by name, derived from either some
particular configuration or tradition attached to them, and handed down
from time immemorial.” With respect to the thickness of masses of
coral-rock, it clearly appears, from the descriptions given by Mr.
Couthouy (pages 34, 58) that Mangaia and Aurora Islands are upraised
atolls, composed of coral rock: the level summit of the former is about
three hundred feet, and that of Aurora Island is two hundred feet above
the sea-level.); and it must be noticed that twice at the depth of
fifteen fathoms, the arming was marked with a clean impression of an
Astræa. Besides these lithophytes, some fragments of the Millepora
alcicornis, which occurs in the same relative position at Keeling
Island, were brought up; and in the deeper parts there were large beds
of a Seriatopora, different from S. subulata, but closely allied to it.
On the beach within the reef, the rolled fragments consisted chiefly of
the corals just mentioned, and of a massive Porites, like that at
Keeling atoll, of a Meandrina, Pocillopora verrucosa, and of numerous
fragments of Nullipora. From fifteen to twenty fathoms the bottom was,
with few exceptions, either formed of sand, or thickly covered with
Seriatopora: this delicate coral seems to form at these depths
extensive beds unmingled with any other kind. At twenty fathoms, one
sounding brought up a fragment of Madrepora apparently M. pocillifera,
and I believe it is the same species (for I neglected to bring
specimens from both stations) which mainly forms the upper margin of
the reef; if so, it grows in depths varying from 0 to 20 fathoms.
Between 20 and 23 fathoms I obtained several soundings, and they all
showed a sandy bottom, with one exception at 30 fathoms, when the
arming came up scooped out, as if by the margin of a large
Caryophyllia. Beyond 33 fathoms I sounded only once; and from 86
fathoms, at the distance of one mile and a third from the edge of the
reef, the arming brought up calcareous sand with a pebble of volcanic
rock. The circumstance of the arming having invariably come up quite
clean, when sounding within a certain number of fathoms off the reefs
of Mauritius and Keeling atoll (eight fathoms in the former case, and
twelve in the latter) and of its having always come up (with one
exception) smoothed and covered with sand, when the depth exceeded
twenty fathoms, probably indicates a criterion, by which the limits of
the vigorous growth of coral might in all cases be readily ascertained.
I do not, however, suppose that if a vast number of soundings were
obtained round these islands, the limit above assigned would be found
never to vary, but I conceive the facts are sufficient to show, that
the exceptions would be few. The circumstance of a GRADUAL change, in
the two cases, from a field of clean coral to a smooth sandy bottom, is
far more important in indicating the depth at which the larger kinds of
coral flourish than almost any number of separate observations on the
depth, at which certain species have been dredged up. For we can
understand the gradation, only as a prolonged struggle against
unfavourable conditions. If a person were to find the soil clothed with
turf on the banks of a stream of water, but on going to some distance
on one side of it, he observed the blades of grass growing thinner and
thinner, with intervening patches of sand, until he entered a desert of
sand, he would safely conclude, especially if changes of the same kind
were noticed in other places, that the presence of the water was
absolutely necessary to the formation of a thick bed of turf: so may we
conclude, with the same feeling of certainty, that thick beds of coral
are formed only at small depths beneath the surface of the sea.
I have endeavoured to collect every fact, which might either invalidate
or corroborate this conclusion. Captain Moresby, whose opportunities
for observation during his survey of the Maldiva and Chagos
Archipelagoes have been unrivalled, informs me, that the upper part or
zone of the steep-sided reefs, on the inner and outer coasts of the
atolls in both groups, invariably consists of coral, and the lower
parts of sand. At seven or eight fathoms depth, the bottom is formed,
as could be seen through the clear water, of great living masses of
coral, which at about ten fathoms generally stand some way apart from
each other, with patches of white sand between them, and at a little
greater depth these patches become united into a smooth steep slope,
without any coral. Captain Moresby, also, informs me in support of his
statement, that he found only decayed coral on the Padua Bank (northern
part of the Laccadive group) which has an average depth between
twenty-five and thirty-five fathoms, but that on some other banks in
the same group with only ten or twelve fathoms water on them (for
instance, the Tillacapeni bank), the coral was living.
With regard to the coral-reefs in the Red Sea, Ehrenberg has the
following passage:—“The living corals do not descend there into great
depths. On the edges of islets and near reefs, where the depth was
small, very many lived; but we found no more even at six fathoms. The
pearl-fishers at Yemen and Massaua asserted that there was no coral
near the pearl-banks at nine fathoms depth, but only sand. We were not
able to institute any more special researches.” (Ehrenberg, “Uber die
Natur,” etc., page 50.) I am, however, assured both by Captain Moresby
and Lieutenant Wellstead, that in the more northern parts of the Red
Sea, there are extensive beds of living coral at a depth of twenty-five
fathoms, in which the anchors of their vessels were frequently
entangled. Captain Moresby attributes the less depth, at which the
corals are able to live in the places mentioned by Ehrenberg, to the
greater quantity of sediment there; and the situations, where they were
flourishing at the depth of twenty-five fathoms, were protected, and
the water was extraordinarily limpid. On the leeward side of Mauritius
where I found the coral growing at a somewhat greater depth than at
Keeling atoll, the sea, owing apparently to its tranquil state, was
likewise very clear. Within the lagoons of some of the Marshall atolls,
where the water can be but little agitated, there are, according to
Kotzebue, living beds of coral in twenty-five fathoms. From these
facts, and considering the manner in which the beds of clean coral off
Mauritius, Keeling Island, the Maldiva and Chagos atolls, graduated
into a sandy slope, it appears very probable that the depth, at which
reef-building polypifers can exist, is partly determined by the extent
of inclined surface, which the currents of the sea and the recoiling
waves have the power to keep free from sediment.
MM. Quoy and Gaimard (“Annales des Sci. Nat.” tom. vi.) believe that
the growth of coral is confined within very limited depths; and they
state that they never found any fragment of an Astræa (the genus they
consider most efficient in forming reefs) at a depth above twenty-five
or thirty feet. But we have seen that in several places the bottom of
the sea is paved with massive corals at more than twice this depth; and
at fifteen fathoms (or twice this depth) off the reefs of Mauritius,
the arming was marked with the distinct impression of a living Astræa.
Millepora alcicornis lives in from 0 to 12 fathoms, and the genera
Madrepora and Seriatopora from 0 to 20 fathoms. Captain Moresby has
given me a specimen of Sideropora scabra (Porites of Lamarck) brought
up alive from 17 fathoms. Mr. Couthouy (“Remarks on Coral Formations,”
page 12.) states that he has dredged up on the Bahama banks
considerable masses of Meandrina from 16 fathoms, and he has seen this
coral growing in 20 fathoms. A Caryophyllia, half an inch in diameter,
was dredged up alive from 80 fathoms off Juan Fernandez (latitude 33
deg S.) by Captain P.P. King (I am indebted to Mr. Stokes for having
kindly communicated this fact to me, together with much other valuable
information.): this is the most remarkable fact with which I am
acquainted, showing the depth at which a genus of corals often found on
reefs, can exist.
We ought, however, to feel less surprise at this fact, as Caryophyllia
alone of the lamelliform genera, ranges far beyond the tropics; it is
found in Zetland (Fleming’s “British Animals,” genus Caryophyllia.) in
Latitude 60 deg N. in deep water, and I procured a small species from
Tierra del Fuego in Latitude 53 deg S. Captain Beechey informs me, that
branches of pink and yellow coral were frequently brought up from
between twenty and twenty-five fathoms off the Low atolls; and
Lieutenant Stokes, writing to me from the N.W. coast of Australia, says
that a strongly branched coral was procured there from thirty fathoms;
unfortunately it is not known to what genera these corals belong.
(I will record in the form of a note all the facts that I have been
able to collect on the depths, both within and without the tropics, at
which those corals and corallines can live, which there is no reason to
suppose ever materially aid in the construction of a reef.
(In the following list the name of the Zoophyte is followed by the
depth in fathoms, the country and degrees S. latitude, and the
authority. Where no authority is given, the observation is Darwin’s
own.)
SERTULARIA, 40, Cape Horn 66.
CELLARIA, 40, Cape Horn 66.
CELLARIA, A minute scarlet encrusting species, found living, 190,
Keeling Atoll, 12.
CELLARIA, An allied, small stony sub-generic form, 48, St Cruz Riv. 50.
A coral allied to VINCULARIA, with eight rows of cells, 40, Cape Horn.
TUBULIPORA, near to T. patima, 40, Cape Horn.
TUBULIPORA, near to T. patima, 94, East Chiloe 43.
CELLEPORA, several species, and allied sub-generic forms, 40, Cape
Horn.
CELLEPORA, several species, and allied sub-generic forms, 40 and 57,
Chonos Archipelago 45.
CELLEPORA, several species, and allied sub-generic forms, 48, St Cruz
50.
ESCHARA, 30, Tierra del Fuego 53.
ESCHARA, 48, St Cruz R. 50.
RETEPORA, 40, Cape Horn.
RETEPORA, 100, Cape of Good Hope 34, Quoy and Gaimard, “Ann. Scien.
Nat.” tome vi., page 284.
MILLEPORA, a strong coral with cylindrical branches, of a pink colour,
about two inches high, resembling in the form of its orifices M. aspera
of Lamarck, 94 and 30, E. Chiloe 43, Tierra del Fuego 53.
CORALIUM, 120, Barbary 33 N., Peyssonel in paper read to Royal Society
May 1752.
ANTIPATHES, 16, Chonos 45.
GORGONIA (or an allied form), 160, Abrolhos on the coast of Brazil 18,
Captain Beechey informed me of this fact in a letter.
Ellis (“Nat. Hist. of Coralline,” page 96) states that Ombellularia was
procured in latitude 79 deg N. STICKING to a LINE from the depth of 236
fathoms; hence this coral either must have been floating loose, or was
entangled in stray line at the bottom. Off Keeling atoll a compound
Ascidia (Sigillina) was brought up from 39 fathoms, and a piece of
sponge, apparently living, from 70, and a fragment of Nullipora also
apparently living from 92 fathoms. At a greater depth than 90 fathoms
off this coral island, the bottom was thickly strewed with joints of
Halimeda and small fragments of other Nulliporæ, but all dead. Captain
B. Allen, R.N., informs me that in the survey of the West Indies it was
noticed that between the depth of 10 and 200 fathoms, the sounding lead
very generally came up coated with the dead joints of a Halimeda, of
which he showed me specimens. Off Pernambuco, in Brazil, in about
twelve fathoms, the bottom was covered with fragments dead and alive of
a dull red Nullipora, and I infer from Roussin’s chart, that a bottom
of this kind extends over a wide area. On the beach, within the
coral-reefs of Mauritius, vast quantities of fragments of Nulliporæ
were piled up. From these facts it appears, that these simply organized
bodies are amongst the most abundant productions of the sea.)
Although the limit of depth, at which each particular kind of coral
ceases to exist, is far from being accurately known; yet when we bear
in mind the manner in which the clumps of coral gradually became
infrequent at about the same depth, and wholly disappeared at a greater
depth than twenty fathoms, on the slope round Keeling atoll, on the
leeward side of the Mauritius, and at rather less depth, both without
and within the atolls of the Maldiva and Chagos Archipelagoes; and when
we know that the reefs round these islands do not differ from other
coral formations in their form and structure, we may, I think, conclude
that in ordinary cases, reef-building polypifers do not flourish at
greater depths than between twenty and thirty fathoms.
It has been argued (“Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,” 1831,
page 218.) that reefs may possibly rise from very great depths through
the means of small corals, first making a platform for the growth of
the stronger kinds. This, however, is an arbitrary supposition: it is
not always remembered, that in such cases there is an antagonist power
in action, namely, the decay of organic bodies, when not protected by a
covering of sediment, or by their own rapid growth. We have, moreover,
no right to calculate on unlimited time for the accumulation of small
organic bodies into great masses. Every fact in geology proclaims that
neither the land, nor the bed of the sea retain for indefinite periods
the same level. As well might it be imagined that the British Seas
would in time become choked up with beds of oysters, or that the
numerous small corallines off the inhospitable shores of Tierra del
Fuego would in time form a solid and extensive coral-reef.
CHAPTER V.
THEORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF CORAL-REEFS.
The atolls of the larger archipelagoes are not formed on submerged
craters, or on banks of sediment.—Immense areas interspersed with
atolls.—Their subsidence.—The effects of storms and earthquakes on
atolls.—Recent changes in their state.—The origin of barrier-reefs and
of atolls.—Their relative forms.—The step-formed ledges and walls round
the shores of some lagoons.—The ring-formed reefs of the Maldiva
atolls.—The submerged condition of parts or of the whole of some
annular reefs.—The disseverment of large atolls.—The union of atolls by
linear reefs.—The Great Chagos Bank.—Objections from the area and
amount of subsidence required by the theory, considered.—The probable
composition of the lower parts of atolls.
The naturalists who have visited the Pacific, seem to have had their
attention riveted by the lagoon-islands, or atolls,—those singular
rings of coral-land which rise abruptly out of the unfathomable
ocean—and have passed over, almost unnoticed, the scarcely less
wonderful encircling barrier-reefs. The theory most generally received
on the formation of atolls, is that they are based on submarine
craters; but where can we find a crater of the shape of Bow atoll,
which is five times as long as it is broad (Plate I., Figure 4); or
like that of Menchikoff Island (Plate II., Figure 3.), with its three
loops, together sixty miles in length; or like Rimsky Korsacoff,
narrow, crooked, and fifty-four miles long; or like the northern
Maldiva atolls, made up of numerous ring-formed reefs, placed on the
margin of a disc,—one of which discs is eighty-eight miles in length,
and only from ten to twenty in breadth? It is, also, not a little
improbable, that there should have existed as many craters of immense
size crowded together beneath the sea, as there are now in some parts
atolls. But this theory lies under a greater difficulty, as will be
evident, when we consider on what foundations the atolls of the larger
archipelagoes rest: nevertheless, if the rim of a crater afforded a
basis at the proper depth, I am far from denying that a reef like a
perfectly characterised atoll might not be formed; some such, perhaps,
now exist; but I cannot believe in the possibility of the greater
number having thus originated.
An earlier and better theory was proposed by Chamisso (Kotzebue’s
“First Voyage,” volume iii., page 331.); he supposes that as the more
massive kinds of corals prefer the surf, the outer portions, in a reef
rising from a submarine basis, would first reach the surface and
consequently form a ring. But on this view it must be assumed, that in
every case the basis consists of a flat bank; for if it were conically
formed, like a mountainous mass, we can see no reason why the coral
should spring up from the flanks, instead of from the central and
highest parts: considering the number of the atolls in the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, this assumption is very improbable. As the lagoons of
atolls are sometimes even more than forty fathoms deep, it must, also,
be assumed on this view, that at a depth at which the waves do not
break, the coral grows more vigorously on the edges of a bank than on
its central part; and this is an assumption without any evidence in
support of it. I remarked, in the third chapter, that a reef, growing
on a detached bank, would tend to assume an atoll-like structure; if,
therefore, corals were to grow up from a bank, with a level surface
some fathoms submerged, having steep sides and being situated in a deep
sea, a reef not to be distinguished from an atoll, might be formed: I
believe some such exist in the West Indies. But a difficulty of the
same kind with that affecting the crater theory, runners, as we shall
presently see, this view inapplicable to the greater number of atolls.
No theory worthy of notice has been advanced to account for those
barrier-reefs, which encircle islands of moderate dimensions. The great
reef which fronts the coast of Australia has been supposed, but without
any special facts, to rest on the edge of a submarine precipice,
extending parallel to the shore. The origin of the third class or of
fringing-reefs presents, I believe, scarcely any difficulty, and is
simply consequent on the polypifers not growing up from great depths,
and their not flourishing close to gently shelving beaches where the
water is often turbid.
What cause, then, has given to atolls and barrier-reefs their
characteristic forms? Let us see whether an important deduction will
not follow from the consideration of these two circumstances, first,
the reef-building corals flourishing only at limited depths; and
secondly, the vastness of the areas interspersed with coral-reefs and
coral-islets, none of which rise to a greater height above the level of
the sea, than that attained by matter thrown up by the waves and winds.
I do not make this latter statement vaguely; I have carefully sought
for descriptions of every island in the intertropical seas; and my task
has been in some degree abridged by a map of the Pacific, corrected in
1834 by MM. D’Urville and Lottin, in which the low islands are
distinguished from the high ones (even from those much less than a
hundred feet in height) by being written without a capital letter; I
have detected a few errors in this map, respecting the height of some
of the islands, which will be noticed in the Appendix, where I treat of
coral formations in geographical order. To the Appendix, also, I must
refer for a more particular account of the data on which the statements
on the next page are grounded. I have ascertained, and chiefly from the
writings of Cook, Kotzebue, Bellinghausen, Duperrey, Beechey, and
Lutke, regarding the Pacific; and from Moresby (See also Captain Owen’s
and Lieutenant Wood’s papers in the “Geographical Journal”, on the
Maldiva and Laccadive Archipelagoes. These officers particularly refer
to the lowness of the islets; but I chiefly ground my assertion
respecting these two groups, and the Chagos group, from information
communicated to me by Captain Moresby.) with respect to the Indian
Ocean, that in the following cases the term “low island” strictly means
land of the height commonly attained by matter thrown up by the winds
and the waves of an open sea. If we draw a line (the plan I have always
adopted) joining the external atolls of that part of the Low
Archipelago in which the islands are numerous, the figure will be a
pointed ellipse (reaching from Hood to Lazaref Island), of which the
longer axis is 840 geographical miles, and the shorter 420 miles; in
this space (I find from Mr. Couthouy’s pamphlet (page 58) that Aurora
Island is about two hundred feet in height; it consists of coral-rock,
and seems to have been formed by the elevation of an atoll. It lies
north-east of Tahiti, close without the line bounding the space
coloured dark blue in the map appended to this volume. Honden Island,
which is situated in the extreme north-west part of the Low
Archipelago, according to measurements made on board the “Beagle”,
whilst sailing by, is 114 feet from the SUMMIT OF THE TREES to the
water’s edge. This island appeared to resemble the other atolls of the
group.) none of the innumerable islets united into great rings rise
above the stated level. The Gilbert group is very narrow, and 300 miles
in length. In a prolonged line from this group, at the distance of 240
miles, is the Marshall Archipelago, the figure of which is an irregular
square, one end being broader than the other; its length is 520 miles,
with an average width of 240; these two groups together are 1,040 miles
in length, and all their islets are low. Between the southern end of
the Gilbert and the northern end of Low Archipelago, the ocean is
thinly strewed with islands, all of which, as far as I have been able
to ascertain, are low; so that from nearly the southern end of the Low
Archipelago, to the northern end of the Marshall Archipelago, there is
a narrow band of ocean, more than 4,000 miles in length, containing a
great number of islands, all of which are low. In the western part of
the Caroline Archipelago, there is a space of 480 miles in length, and
about 100 broad, thinly interspersed with low islands. Lastly, in the
Indian Ocean, the archipelago of the Maldivas is 470 miles in length,
and 60 in breadth; that of the Laccadives is 150 by 100 miles; as there
is a low island between these two groups, they may be considered as one
group of 1,000 miles in length. To this may be added the Chagos group
of low islands, situated 280 miles distant, in a line prolonged from
the southern extremity of the Maldivas. This group, including the
submerged banks, is 170 miles in length and 80 in breadth. So striking
is the uniformity in direction of these three archipelagoes, all the
islands of which are low, that Captain Moresby, in one of his papers,
speaks of them as parts of one great chain, nearly 1,500 miles long. I
am, then, fully justified in repeating, that enormous spaces, both in
the Pacific and Indian Oceans, are interspersed with islands, of which
not one rises above that height, to which the waves and winds in an
open sea can heap up matter.
On what foundations, then, have these reefs and islets of coral been
constructed? A foundation must originally have been present beneath
each atoll at that limited depth, which is indispensable for the first
growth of the reef-building polypifers. A conjecture will perhaps be
hazarded, that the requisite bases might have been afforded by the
accumulation of great banks of sediment, which owing to the action of
superficial currents (aided possibly by the undulatory movement of the
sea) did not quite reach the surface,—as actually appears to have been
the case in some parts of the West Indian Sea. But in the form and
disposition of the groups of atolls, there is nothing to countenance
this notion; and the assumption without any proof, that a number of
immense piles of sediment have been heaped on the floor of the great
Pacific and Indian Oceans, in their central parts far remote from land,
and where the dark blue colour of the limpid water bespeaks its purity,
cannot for one moment be admitted.
The many widely-scattered atolls must, therefore, rest on rocky bases.
But we cannot believe that the broad summit of a mountain lies buried
at the depth of a few fathoms beneath every atoll, and nevertheless
throughout the immense areas above-named, with not one point of rock
projecting above the level of the sea; for we may judge with some
accuracy of mountains beneath the sea, by those on the land; and where
can we find a single chain several hundred miles in length and of
considerable breadth, much less several such chains, with their many
broad summits attaining the same height, within from 120 to 180 feet?
If the data be thought insufficient, on which I have grounded my
belief, respecting the depth at which the reef-building polypifers can
exist, and it be assumed that they can flourish at a depth of even one
hundred fathoms, yet the weight of the above argument is but little
diminished, for it is almost equally improbable, that as many submarine
mountains, as there are low islands in the several great and widely
separated areas above specified, should all rise within six hundred
feet of the surface of the sea and not one above it, as that they
should be of the same height within the smaller limit of one or two
hundred feet. So highly improbable is this supposition, that we are
compelled to believe, that the bases of the many atolls did never at
any one period all lie submerged within the depth of a few fathoms
beneath the surface, but that they were brought into the requisite
position or level, some at one period and some at another, through
movements in the earth’s crust. But this could not have been effected
by elevation, for the belief that points so numerous and so widely
separated were successively uplifted to a certain level, but that not
one point was raised above that level, is quite as improbable as the
former supposition, and indeed differs little from it. It will probably
occur to those who have read Ehrenberg’s account of the Reefs of the
Red Sea, that many points in these great areas may have been elevated,
but that as soon as raised, the protuberant parts were cut off by the
destroying action of the waves: a moment’s reflection, however, on the
basin-like form of the atolls, will show that this is impossible; for
the upheaval and subsequent abrasion of an island would leave a flat
disc, which might become coated with coral, but not a deeply concave
surface; moreover, we should expect to see, in some parts at least, the
rock of the foundation brought to the surface. If, then, the
foundations of the many atolls were not uplifted into the requisite
position, they must of necessity have subsided into it; and this at
once solves every difficulty (The additional difficulty on the crater
hypothesis before alluded to, will now be evident; for on this view the
volcanic action must be supposed to have formed within the areas
specified a vast number of craters, all rising within a few fathoms of
the surface, and not one above it. The supposition that the craters
were at different times upraised above the surface, and were there
abraded by the surf and subsequently coated by corals, is subject to
nearly the same objections with those given above in this paragraph;
but I consider it superfluous to detail all the arguments opposed to
such a notion. Chamisso’s theory, from assuming the existence of so
many banks, all lying at the proper depth beneath the water, is also
vitally defective. The same observation applies to an hypothesis of
Lieutenant Nelson’s (“Geolog. Trans.” volume v., page 122), who
supposes that the ring-formed structure is caused by a greater number
of germs of corals becoming attached to the declivity, than to the
central plateau of a submarine bank: it likewise applies to the notion
formerly entertained (Forster’s “Observ.” page 151), that
lagoon-islands owe their peculiar form to the instinctive tendencies of
the polypifers. According to this latter view, the corals on the outer
margin of the reef instinctively expose themselves to the surf in order
to afford protection to corals living in the lagoon, which belong to
other genera, and to other families!), for we may safely infer, from
the facts given in the last chapter, that during a gradual subsidence
the corals would be favourably circumstanced for building up their
solid frame works and reaching the surface, as island after island
slowly disappeared. Thus areas of immense extent in the central and
most profound parts of the great oceans, might become interspersed with
coral-islets, none of which would rise to a greater height than that
attained by detritus heaped up by the sea, and nevertheless they might
all have been formed by corals, which absolutely required for their
growth a solid foundation within a few fathoms of the surface.
It would be out of place here to do more than allude to the many facts,
showing that the supposition of a gradual subsidence over large areas
is by no means improbable. We have the clearest proof that a movement
of this kind is possible, in the upright trees buried under the strata
many thousand feet in thickness; we have also every reason for
believing that there are now large areas gradually sinking, in the same
manner as others are rising. And when we consider how many parts of the
surface of the globe have been elevated within recent geological
periods, we must admit that there have been subsidences on a
corresponding scale, for otherwise the whole globe would have swollen.
It is very remarkable that Mr. Lyell (“Principles of Geology,” sixth
edition, volume iii., page 386.), even in the first edition of his
“Principles of Geology,” inferred that the amount of subsidence in the
Pacific must have exceeded that of elevation, from the area of land
being very small relatively to the agents there tending to form it,
namely, the growth of coral and volcanic action. But it will be asked,
are there any direct proofs of a subsiding movement in those areas, in
which subsidence will explain a phenomenon otherwise inexplicable?
This, however, can hardly be expected, for it must ever be most
difficult, excepting in countries long civilised, to detect a movement,
the tendency of which is to conceal the part affected. In barbarous and
semi-civilised nations how long might not a slow movement, even of
elevation such as that now affecting Scandinavia, have escaped
attention!
Mr. Williams (Williams’s “Narrative of Missionary Enterprise,” page
31.) insists strongly that the traditions of the natives, which he has
taken much pains in collecting, do not indicate the appearance of any
new islands: but on the theory of a gradual subsidence, all that would
be apparent would be, the water sometimes encroaching slowly on the
land, and the land again recovering by the accumulation of detritus its
former extent, and perhaps sometimes the conversion of an atoll with
coral islets on it, into a bare or into a sunken annular reef. Such
changes would naturally take place at the periods when the sea rose
above its usual limits, during a gale of more than ordinary strength;
and the effects of the two causes would be hardly distinguishable. In
Kotzebue’s “Voyage” there are accounts of islands, both in the Caroline
and Marshall Archipelagoes, which have been partly washed away during
hurricanes; and Kadu, the native who was on board one of the Russian
vessels, said “he saw the sea at Radack rise to the feet of the
cocoa-nut trees; but it was conjured in time.” (Kotzebue’s “First
Voyage,” volume iii., page 168.) A storm lately entirely swept away two
of the Caroline islands, and converted them into shoals; it partly,
also, destroyed two other islands. (M. Desmoulins in “Comptes Rendus,”
1840, page 837.) According to a tradition which was communicated to
Captain Fitzroy, it is believed in the Low Archipelago, that the
arrival of the first ship caused a great inundation, which destroyed
many lives. Mr. Stutchbury relates, that in 1825, the western side of
Chain Atoll, in the same group, was completely devastated by a
hurricane, and not less than 300 lives lost: “in this instance it was
evident, even to the natives, that the hurricane alone was not
sufficient to account for the violent agitation of the ocean.” (“West
of England Journal”, No. I., page 35.) That considerable changes have
taken place recently in some of the atolls in the Low Archipelago,
appears certain from the case already given of Matilda Island: with
respect to Whitsunday and Gloucester Islands in this same group, we
must either attribute great inaccuracy to their discoverer, the famous
circumnavigator Wallis, or believe that they have undergone a
considerable change in the period of fifty-nine years, between his
voyage and that of Captain Beechey’s. Whitsunday Island is described by
Wallis as “about four miles long, and three wide,” now it is only one
mile and a half long. The appearance of Gloucester Island, in Captain
Beechey’s words (Beechey’s “Voyage to the Pacific,” chapter vii., and
Wallis’s “Voyage in the ‘Dolphin’,” chapter iv.), has been accurately
described by its discoverer, but its present form and extent differ
materially.” Blenheim reef, in the Chagos group, consists of a
water-washed annular reef, thirteen miles in circumference, surrounding
a lagoon ten fathoms deep: on its surface there were a few worn patches
of conglomerate coral-rock, of about the size of hovels; and these
Captain Moresby considered as being, without doubt, the last remnants
of islets; so that here an atoll has been converted into an
atoll-formed reef. The inhabitants of the Maldiva Archipelago, as long
ago as 1605, declared, “that the high tides and violent currents were
diminishing the number of the islands” (See an extract from Pyrard’s
Voyage in Captain Owen’s paper on the Maldiva Archipelago, in the
“Geographical Journal”, volume ii., page 84.): and I have already
shown, on the authority of Captain Moresby, that the work of
destruction is still in progress; but that on the other hand the first
formation of some islets is known to the present inhabitants. In such
cases, it would be exceedingly difficult to detect a gradual subsidence
of the foundation, on which these mutable structures rest.
Some of the archipelagoes of low coral-islands are subject to
earthquakes: Captain Moresby informs me that they are frequent, though
not very strong, in the Chagos group, which occupies a very central
position in the Indian Ocean, and is far from any land not of coral
formation. One of the islands in this group was formerly covered by a
bed of mould, which, after an earthquake, disappeared, and was believed
by the residents to have been washed by the rain through the broken
masses of underlying rock; the island was thus rendered unproductive.
Chamisso (See Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s “First Voyage,” volume iii.,
pages 182 and 136.) states, that earthquakes are felt in the Marshall
atolls, which are far from any high land, and likewise in the islands
of the Caroline Archipelago. On one of the latter, namely Oulleay
atoll, Admiral Lutke, as he had the kindness to inform me, observed
several straight fissures about a foot in width, running for some
hundred yards obliquely across the whole width of the reef. Fissures
indicate a stretching of the earth’s crust, and, therefore, probably
changes in its level; but these coral-islands, which have been shaken
and fissured, certainly have not been elevated, and, therefore,
probably they have subsided. In the chapter on Keeling atoll, I
attempted to show by direct evidence, that the island underwent a
movement of subsidence, during the earthquakes lately felt there.
The facts stand thus;—there are many large tracts of ocean, without any
high land, interspersed with reefs and islets, formed by the growth of
those kinds of corals, which cannot live at great depths; and the
existence of these reefs and low islets, in such numbers and at such
distant points, is quite inexplicable, excepting on the theory, that
the bases on which the reefs first became attached, slowly and
successively sank beneath the level of the sea, whilst the corals
continued to grow upwards. No positive facts are opposed to this view,
and some general considerations render it probable. There is evidence
of change in form, whether or not from subsidence, on some of these
coral-islands; and there is evidence of subterranean disturbances
beneath them. Will then the theory, to which we have thus been led,
solve the curious problem,—what has given to each class of reef its
peculiar form?
[Illustration]
AA—Outer edge of the reef at the level of the sea.
BB—Shores of the island.
A′A′—Outer edge of the reef, after its upward growth during a period of
subsidence.
CC—The lagoon-channel between the reef and the shores of the now
encircled land.
B′B′—The shores of the encircled island.
N.B.—In this, and the following woodcut, the subsidence of the land
could only be represented by an apparent rise in the level of the sea.
[Illustration]
A′A′—Outer edges of the barrier-reef at the level of the sea. The
cocoa-nut trees represent coral-islets formed on the reef.
CC—The lagoon-channel.
B′B′—The shores of the island, generally formed of low alluvial land
and of coral detritus from the lagoon-channel.
A″A″—The outer edges of the reef now forming an atoll.
C′—The lagoon of the newly formed atoll. According to the scale, the
depth of the lagoon and of the lagoon-channel is exaggerated.
Let us in imagination place within one of the subsiding areas, an
island surrounded by a “fringing-reef,”—that kind, which alone offers
no difficulty in the explanation of its origin. Let the unbroken lines
and the oblique shading in the woodcut (No. 4) represent a vertical
section through such an island; and the horizontal shading will
represent the section of the reef. Now, as the island sinks down,
either a few feet at a time or quite insensibly, we may safely infer
from what we know of the conditions favourable to the growth of coral,
that the living masses bathed by the surf on the margin of the reef,
will soon regain the surface. The water, however, will encroach, little
by little, on the shore, the island becoming lower and smaller, and the
space between the edge of the reef and the beach proportionately
broader. A section of the reef and island in this state, after a
subsidence of several hundred feet, is given by the dotted lines:
coral-islets are supposed to have been formed on the new reef, and a
ship is anchored in the lagoon-channel. This section is in every
respect that of an encircling barrier-reef; it is, in fact, a section
taken (The section has been made from the chart given in the “Atlas of
the Voyage of the ‘Coquille’.” The scale is .57 of an inch to a mile.
The height of the island, according to M. Lesson, is 4,026 feet. The
deepest part of the lagoon-channel is 162 feet; its depth is
exaggerated in the woodcut for the sake of clearness.) east and west
through the highest point of the encircled island of Bolabola; of which
a plan is given in Plate I., Figure 5. The same section is more clearly
shown in the following woodcut (No. 5) by the unbroken lines. The width
of the reef, and its slope, both on the outer and inner side, will have
been determined by the growing powers of the coral, under the
conditions (for instance the force of the breakers and of the currents)
to which it has been exposed; and the lagoon-channel will be deeper or
shallower, in proportion to the growth of the delicately branched
corals within the reef, and to the accumulation of sediment,
relatively, also, to the rate of subsidence and the length of the
intervening stationary periods.
It is evident in this section, that a line drawn perpendicularly down
from the outer edge of the new reef to the foundation of solid rock,
exceeds by as many feet as there have been feet of subsidence, that
small limit of depth at which the effective polypifers can live—the
corals having grown up, as the whole sank down, from a basis formed of
other corals and their consolidated fragments. Thus the difficulty on
this head, which before seemed so great, disappears.
As the space between the reef and the subsiding shore continued to
increase in breadth and depth, and as the injurious effects of the
sediment and fresh water borne down from the land were consequently
lessened, the greater number of the channels, with which the reef in
its fringing state must have been breached, especially those which
fronted the smaller streams, will have become choked up with the growth
of coral: on the windward side of the reef, where the coral grows most
vigorously, the breaches will probably have first been closed. In
barrier-reefs, therefore, the breaches kept open by draining the tidal
waters of the lagoon-channel, will generally be placed on the leeward
side, and they will still face the mouths of the larger streams,
although removed beyond the influence of their sediment and fresh
water;—and this, it has been shown, is commonly the case.
Referring to the diagram shown above, in which the newly formed
barrier-reef is represented by unbroken lines, instead of by dots as in
the former woodcut, let the work of subsidence go on, and the doubly
pointed hill will form two small islands (or more, according to the
number of the hills) included within one annular reef. Let the island
continue subsiding, and the coral-reef will continue growing up on its
own foundation, whilst the water gains inch by inch on the land, until
the last and highest pinnacle is covered, and there remains a perfect
atoll. A vertical section of this atoll is shown in the woodcut by the
dotted lines;—a ship is anchored in its lagoon, but islets are not
supposed yet to have been formed on the reef. The depth of the lagoon
and the width and slope of the reef, will depend on the circumstances
just referred to under barrier-reefs. Any further subsidence will
produce no change in the atoll, except perhaps a diminution in its
size, from the reef not growing vertically upwards; but should the
currents of the sea act violently upon it, and should the corals perish
on part or on the whole of its margin, changes would result during
subsidence which will be presently noticed. I may here observe, that a
bank either of rock or of hardened sediment, level with the surface of
the sea, and fringed with living coral, would (if not so small as to
allow the central space to be quickly filled up with detritus) by
subsidence be converted immediately into an atoll, without passing, as
in the case of a reef fringing the shore of an island, through the
intermediate form of a barrier-reef. If such a bank lay a few fathoms
submerged, the simple growth of the coral (as remarked in the third
chapter) without the aid of subsidence, would produce a structure
scarcely to be distinguished from a true atoll; for in all cases the
corals on the outer margin of a reef, from having space and being
freely exposed to the open sea, will grow vigorously and tend to form a
continuous ring whilst the growth of the less massive kinds on the
central expanse, will be checked by the sediment formed there, and by
that washed inwards by the breakers; and as the space becomes
shallower, their growth will, also, be checked by the impurities of the
water, and probably by the small amount of food brought by the
enfeebled currents, in proportion to the surface of living reefs
studded with innumerable craving mouths: the subsidence of a reef based
on a bank of this kind, would give depth to its central expanse or
lagoon, steepness to its flanks, and through the free growth of the
coral, symmetry to its outline:—I may here repeat that the larger
groups of atolls in the Pacific and Indian Oceans cannot be supposed to
be founded on banks of this nature.
If, instead of the island in the diagram, the shore of a continent
fringed by a reef had subsided, a great barrier-reef, like that on the
north-east coast of Australia, would have necessarily resulted; and it
would have been separated from the main land by a deep-water channel,
broad in proportion to the amount of subsidence, and to the less or
greater inclination of the neighbouring coast-line. The effect of the
continued subsidence of a great barrier-reef of this kind, and its
probable conversion into a chain of separate atolls, will be noticed,
when we discuss the apparent progressive disseverment of the larger
Maldiva atolls.
We now are able to perceive that the close similarity in form,
dimensions, structure, and relative position (which latter point will
hereafter be more fully noticed) between fringing and encircling
barrier-reefs, and between these latter and atolls, is the necessary
result of the transformation, during subsidence of the one class into
the other. On this view, the three classes of reefs ought to graduate
into each other. Reefs having intermediate character between those of
the fringing and barrier classes do exist; for instance, on the
south-west coast of Madagascar, a reef extends for several miles,
within which there is a broad channel from seven to eight fathoms deep,
but the sea does not deepen abruptly outside the reef. Such cases,
however, are open to some doubts, for an old fringing-reef, which had
extended itself a little on a basis of its own formation, would hardly
be distinguishable from a barrier-reef, produced by a small amount of
subsidence, and with its lagoon-channel nearly filled up with sediment
during a long stationary period. Between barrier-reefs, encircling
either one lofty island or several small low ones, and atolls including
a mere expanse of water, a striking series can be shown: in proof of
this, I need only refer to the first plate in this volume, which speaks
more plainly to the eye, than any description could to the ear. The
authorities from which the charts have been engraved, together with
some remarks on them and descriptive of the plates, are given above. At
New Caledonia (Plate II., Figure 5.) the barrier-reefs extend for 150
miles on each side of the submarine prolongation of the island; and at
their northern extremity they appear broken up and converted into a
vast atoll-formed reef, supporting a few low coral-islets: we may
imagine that we here see the effects of subsidence actually in
progress, the water always encroaching on the northern end of the
island, towards which the mountains slope down, and the reefs steadily
building up their massive fabrics in the lines of their ancient growth.
We have as yet only considered the origin of barrier-reefs and atolls
in their simplest form; but there remain some peculiarities in
structure and some special cases, described in the two first chapters,
to be accounted for by our theory. These consist—in the inclined ledge
terminated by a wall, and sometimes succeeded by a second ledge with a
wall, round the shores of certain lagoons and lagoon-channels; a
structure which cannot, as I endeavoured to show, be explained by the
simple growing powers of the corals,—in the ring or basin-like forms of
the central reefs, as well as of the separate marginal portions of the
northern Maldiva atolls,—in the submerged condition of the whole, or of
parts of certain barrier and atoll-formed reefs; where only a part is
submerged, this being generally to leeward,—in the apparent progressive
disseverment of some of the Maldiva atolls,—in the existence of
irregularly formed atolls, some being tied together by linear reefs,
and others with spurs projecting from them,—and, lastly, in the
structure and origin of the Great Chagos Bank.
STEP-FORMED LEDGES ROUND CERTAIN LAGOONS.
If we suppose an atoll to subside at an extremely slow rate, it is
difficult to follow out the complex results. The living corals would
grow up on the outer margin; and likewise probably in the gullies and
deeper parts of the bare surface of the annular reef; the water would
encroach on the islets, but the accumulation of fresh detritus might
possibly prevent their entire submergence. After a subsidence of this
very slow nature, the surface of the annular reef sloping gently into
the lagoon, would probably become united with the irregular reefs and
banks of sand, which line the shores of most lagoons. Should, however,
the atoll be carried down by a more rapid movement, the whole surface
of the annular reef, where there was a foundation of solid matter,
would be favourably circumstanced for the fresh growth of coral; but as
the corals grew upwards on its exterior margin, and the waves broke
heavily on this part, the increase of the massive polypifers on the
inner side would be checked from the want of water. Consequently, the
exterior parts would first reach the surface, and the new annular reef
thus formed on the old one, would have its summit inclined inwards, and
be terminated by a subaqueous wall, formed by the upward growth of the
coral (before being much checked), from the inner edge of the solid
parts of the old reef. The inner portion of the new reef, from not
having grown to the surface, would be covered by the waters of the
lagoon. Should a subsidence of the same kind be repeated, the corals
would again grow up in a wall, from all the solid parts of the resunken
reef, and, therefore, not from within the sandy shores of the lagoon;
and the inner part of the new annular reef would, from being as before
checked in its upward growth, be of less height than the exterior
parts, and therefore would not reach the surface of the lagoon. In this
case the shores of the lagoon would be surrounded by two inclined
ledges, one beneath the other, and both abruptly terminated by
subaqueous cliffs. (According to Mr. Couthouy (page 26) the external
reef round many atolls descends by a succession of ledges or terraces.
He attempts, I doubt whether successfully, to explain this structure
somewhat in the same manner as I have attempted, with respect to the
internal ledges round the lagoons of some atolls. More facts are wanted
regarding the nature both of the interior and exterior step-like
ledges: are all the ledges, or only the upper ones, covered with living
coral? If they are all covered, are the kinds different on the ledges
according to the depth? Do the interior and exterior ledges occur
together in the same atolls; if so, what is their total width, and is
the intervening surface-reef narrow, etc.?)
THE RING OR BASIN-FORMED REEFS OF THE NORTHERN MALDIVA ATOLLS.
I may first observe, that the reefs within the lagoons of atolls and
within lagoon-channels, would, if favourably circumstanced, grow
upwards during subsidence in the same manner as the annular rim; and,
therefore, we might expect that such lagoon-reefs, when not surrounded
and buried by an accumulation of sediment more rapid than the rate of
subsidence, would rise abruptly from a greater depth than that at which
the efficient polypifers can flourish: we see this well exemplified in
the small abruptly-sided reefs, with which the deep lagoons of the
Chagos and Southern Maldiva atolls are studded. With respect to the
ring or basin-formed reefs of the Northern Maldiva atolls, it is
evident, from the perfectly continuous series which exists that the
marginal rings, although wider than the exterior or bounding reef of
ordinary atolls, are only modified portions of such a reef; it is also
evident that the central rings, although wider than the knolls or reefs
which commonly occur in lagoons, occupy their place. The ring-like
structure has been shown to be contingent on the breaches into the
lagoon being broad and numerous, so that all the reefs which are bathed
by the waters of the lagoon are placed under nearly the same conditions
with the outer coast of an atoll standing in the open sea. Hence the
exterior and living margins of these reefs must have been favourably
circumstanced for growing outwards, and increasing beyond the usual
breadth; and they must likewise have been favourably circumstanced for
growing vigorously upwards, during the subsiding movements, to which by
our theory the whole archipelago has been subjected; and subsidence
with this upward growth of the margins would convert the central space
of each little reef into a small lagoon. This, however, could only take
place with those reefs, which had increased to a breadth sufficient to
prevent their central spaces from being almost immediately filled up
with the sand and detritus driven inwards from all sides: hence it is
that few reefs, which are less than half a mile in diameter, even in
the atolls where the basin-like structure is most strikingly exhibited,
include lagoons. This remark, I may add, applies to all coral-reefs
wherever found. The basin-formed reefs of the Maldiva Archipelago may,
in fact, be briefly described, as small atolls formed during subsidence
over the separate portions of large and broken atolls, in the same
manner as these latter were formed over the barrier-reefs, which
encircled the islands of a large archipelago now wholly submerged.
SUBMERGED AND DEAD REEFS.
In the second section of the first chapter, I have shown that there are
in the neighbourhood of atolls, some deeply submerged banks, with level
surfaces; that there are others, less deeply but yet wholly submerged,
having all the characters of perfect atolls, but consisting merely of
dead coral-rock; that there are barrier-reefs and atolls with merely a
portion of their reef, generally on the leeward side, submerged; and
that such portions either retain their perfect outline, or they appear
to be quite effaced, their former place being marked only by a bank,
conforming in outline with that part of the reef which remains perfect.
These several cases are, I believe, intimately related together, and
can be explained by the same means. There, perhaps, exist some
submerged reefs, covered with living coral and growing upwards, but to
these I do not here refer.
As we see that in those parts of the ocean, where coral-reefs are most
abundant, one island is fringed and another neighbouring one is not
fringed; as we see in the same archipelago, that all the reefs are more
perfect in one part of it than in another, for instance, in the
southern half compared with the northern half of the Maldiva
Archipelago, and likewise on the outer coasts compared with the inner
coasts of the atolls in this same group, which are placed in a double
row; as we know that the existence of the innumerable polypifers
forming a reef, depends on their sustenance, and that they are preyed
on by other organic beings; and, lastly, as we know that some inorganic
causes are highly injurious to the growth of coral, it cannot be
expected that during the round of change to which earth, air, and water
are exposed, the reef-building polypifers should keep alive for
perpetuity in any one place; and still less can this be expected,
during the progressive subsidences, perhaps at some periods more rapid
than at others, to which by our theory these reefs and islands have
been subjected and are liable. It is, then, not improbable that the
corals should sometimes perish either on the whole or on part of a
reef; if on part, the dead portion, after a small amount of subsidence,
would still retain its proper outline and position beneath the water.
After a more prolonged subsidence, it would probably form, owing to the
accumulation of sediment, only the margin of a flat bank, marking the
limits of the former lagoon. Such dead portions of reef would generally
lie on the leeward side (Mr. Lyell, in the first edition of his
“Principles of Geology,” offered a somewhat different explanation of
this structure. He supposes that there has been subsidence; but he was
not aware that the submerged portions of reef were in most cases, if
not in all, dead; and he attributes the difference in height in the two
sides of most atolls, chiefly to the greater accumulation of detritus
to windward than to leeward. But as matter is accumulated only on the
backward part of the reef, the front part would remain of the same
height on both sides. I may here observe that in most cases (for
instance, at Peros Banhos, the Gambier group and the Great Chagos
Bank), and I suspect in all cases, the dead and submerged portions do
not blend or slope into the living and perfect parts, but are separated
from them by an abrupt line. In some instances small patches of living
reef rise to the surface from the middle of the submerged and dead
parts.), for the impure water and fine sediment would more easily flow
out from the lagoon over this side of the reef, where the force of the
breakers is less than to windward; and therefore the corals would be
less vigorous on this side, and be less able to resist any destroying
agent. It is likewise owing to this same cause, that reefs are more
frequently breached to leeward by narrow channels, serving as by
ship-channels, than to windward. If the corals perished entirely, or on
the greater part of the circumference of an atoll, an atoll-shaped bank
of dead rock, more or less entirely submerged, would be produced; and
further subsidence, together with the accumulation of sediment, would
often obliterate its atoll-like structure, and leave only a bank with a
level surface.
In the Chagos group of atolls, within an area of 160 miles by 60, there
are two atoll-formed banks of dead rock (besides another very imperfect
one), entirely submerged; a third, with merely two or three very small
pieces of living reef rising to the surface; and a fourth, namely,
Peros Banhos (Plate I., Figure 9), with a portion nine miles in length
dead and submerged. As by our theory this area has subsided, and as
there is nothing improbable in the death, either from changes in the
state of the surrounding sea or from the subsidence being great or
sudden, of the corals on the whole, or on portions of some of the
atolls, the case of the Chagos group presents no difficulty. So far
indeed are any of the above-mentioned cases of submerged reefs from
being inexplicable, that their occurrence might have been anticipated
on our theory, and as fresh atolls are supposed to be in progressive
formation by the subsidence of encircling barrier-reefs, a weighty
objection, namely that the number of atolls must be increasing
infinitely, might even have been raised, if proofs of the occasional
destruction and loss of atolls could not have been adduced.
THE DISSEVERMENT OF THE LARGER MALDIVA ATOLLS.
The apparent progressive disseverment in the Maldiva Archipelago of
large atolls into smaller ones, is, in many respects, an important
consideration, and requires an explanation. The graduated series which
marks, as I believe, this process, can be observed only in the northern
half of the group, where the atolls have exceedingly imperfect margins,
consisting of detached basin-formed reefs. The currents of the sea flow
across these atolls, as I am informed by Captain Moresby, with
considerable force, and drift the sediment from side to side during the
monsoons, transporting much of it seaward; yet the currents sweep with
greater force round their flanks. It is historically known that these
atolls have long existed in their present state; and we can believe,
that even during a very slow subsidence they might thus remain, the
central expanse being kept at nearly its original depth by the
accumulation of sediment. But in the action of such nicely balanced
forces during a progressive subsidence (like that, to which by our
theory this archipelago has been subjected), it would be strange if the
currents of the sea should never make a direct passage across some one
of the atolls, through the many wide breaches in their margins. If this
were once effected, a deep-water channel would soon be formed by the
removal of the finer sediment, and the check to its further
accumulation; and the sides of the channel would be worn into a slope
like that on the outer coasts, which are exposed to the same force of
the currents. In fact, a channel precisely like that bifurcating one
which divides Mahlos Mahdoo (Plate II., Figure 4.), would almost
necessarily be formed. The scattered reefs situated near the borders of
the new ocean-channel, from being favourably placed for the growth of
coral, would, by their extension, tend to produce fresh margins to the
dissevered portions; such a tendency is very evident (as may be seen in
the large published chart) in the elongated reefs on the borders of the
two channels intersecting Mahlos Mahdoo. Such channels would become
deeper with continued subsidence, and probably from the reefs not
growing up perpendicularly, somewhat broader. In this case, and more
especially if the channels had been formed originally of considerable
breadth, the dissevered portions would become perfect and distinct
atolls, like Ari and Ross atolls (Plate II., Figure 6), or like the two
Nillandoo atolls, which must be considered as distinct, although
related in form and position, and separated from each other by
channels, which though deep have been sounded. Further subsidence would
render such channels unfathomable, and the dissevered portions would
then resemble Phaleedoo and Moluque atolls, or Mahlos Mahdoo and
Horsburgh atolls (Plate II., Figure 4), which are related to each other
in no respect except in proximity and position. Hence, on the theory of
subsidence, the disseverment of large atolls, which have imperfect
margins (for otherwise their disseverment would be scarcely possible),
and which are exposed to strong currents, is far from being an
improbable event; and the several stages, from close relation to entire
isolation in the atolls of the Maldiva Archipelago, are readily
explicable.
We might go even further, and assert as not improbable, that the first
formation of the Maldiva Archipelago was due to a barrier-reef, of
nearly the same dimensions with that of New Caledonia (Plate II.,
Figure 5), for if, in imagination, we complete the subsidence of that
great island, we might anticipate from the present broken condition of
the northern portion of the reef, and from the almost entire absence of
reefs on the eastern coast, that the barrier-reef after repeated
subsidences, would become during its upward growth separated into
distinct portions; and these portions would tend to assume an
atoll-like structure, from the coral growing with vigour round their
entire circumferences, when freely exposed to an open sea. As we have
some large islands partly submerged with barrier-reefs marking their
former limits, such as New Caledonia, so our theory makes it probable
that there should be other large islands wholly submerged; and these,
we may now infer, would be surmounted, not by one enormous atoll, but
by several large elongated ones, like the atolls in the Maldiva group;
and these again, during long periods of subsidence, would sometimes
become dissevered into smaller atolls. I may add, that both in the
Marshall and Caroline Archipelagoes, there are atolls standing close
together, which have an evident relationship in form: we may suppose,
in such cases, either that two or more encircled islands originally
stood close together, and afforded bases for two or more atolls, or
that one atoll has been dissevered. From the position, as well as form,
of three atolls in the Caroline Archipelago (the Namourrek and Elato
group), which are placed in an irregular circle, I am strongly tempted
to believe that they have originated by the process of disseverment.
(The same remark is, perhaps, applicable to the islands of Ollap,
Fanadik, and Tamatam in the Caroline Archipelago, of which charts are
given in the atlas of Duperrey’s voyage: a line drawn through the
linear reefs and lagoons of these three islands forms a semicircle.
Consult also, the atlas of Lutke’s voyage; and for the Marshall group
that of Kotzebue; for the Gilbert group consult the atlas of Duperrey’s
voyage. Most of the points here referred to may, however, be seen in
Krusenstern’s general Atlas of the Pacific.)
IRREGULARLY FORMED ATOLLS.
In the Marshall group, Musquillo atoll consists of two loops united in
one point; and Menchikoff atoll is formed of three loops, two of which
(as may be seen in Figure 3, Plate II.) are connected by a mere
ribbon-shaped reef, and the three together are sixty miles in length.
In the Gilbert group some of the atolls have narrow strips of reef,
like spurs, projecting from them. There occur also in parts of the open
sea, a few linear and straight reefs, standing by themselves; and
likewise some few reefs in the form of crescents, with their
extremities more or less curled inwards. Now, the upward growth of a
barrier-reef which fronted only one side of an island, or one side of
an elongated island with its extremities (of which cases exist), would
produce after the complete subsidence of the land, mere strips or
crescent or hook-formed reefs: if the island thus partially fronted
became divided during subsidence into two or more islands, these
islands would be united together by linear reefs; and from the further
growth of the coral along their shores together with subsidence, reefs
of various forms might ultimately be produced, either atolls united
together by linear reefs, or atolls with spurs projecting from them.
Some, however, of the more simple forms above specified, might, as we
have seen, be equally well produced by the coral perishing during
subsidence on part of the circumference of an atoll, whilst on the
other parts it continued to grow up till it reached the surface.
THE GREAT CHAGOS BANK.
I have already shown that the submerged condition of the Great Chagos
Bank (Plate II., Figure 1, with its section Figure 2), and of some
other banks in the Chagos group, may in all probability be attributed
to the coral having perished before or during the movements of
subsidence, to which this whole area by our theory has been subjected.
The external rim or upper ledge (shaded in the chart), consists of dead
coral-rock thinly covered with sand; it lies at an average depth of
between five and eight fathoms, and perfectly resembles in form the
annular reef of an atoll. The banks of the second level, the boundaries
of which are marked by dotted lines in the chart, lie from about
fifteen to twenty fathoms beneath the surface; they are several miles
broad, and terminate in a very steep slope round the central expanse.
This central expanse I have already described, as consisting of a level
muddy flat between thirty and forty fathoms deep. The banks of the
second level, might at first sight be thought analogous to the internal
step-like ledge of coral-rock which borders the lagoons of some atolls,
but their much greater width, and their being formed of sand, are
points of essential difference. On the eastern side of the atoll some
of the banks are linear and parallel, resembling islets in a great
river, and pointed directly towards a great breach on the opposite side
of the atoll; these are best seen in the large published chart. I
inferred from this circumstance, that strong currents sometimes set
directly across this vast bank; and I have since heard from Captain
Moresby that this is the case. I observed, also, that the channels or
breaches through the rim, were all of the same depth as the central
lagoon-like space into which they lead; whereas the channels into the
other atolls of the Chagos group, and as I believe into most other
large atolls, are not nearly as deep as their lagoons: for instance at
Peros Banhos, the channels are only of the same depth, namely between
ten and twenty fathoms, as the bottom of the lagoon for a space about a
mile and a half in width round its shores, whilst the central expanse
of the lagoon is from thirty-five to forty fathoms deep. Now, if an
atoll during a gradual subsidence once became entirely submerged, like
the Great Chagos Bank, and therefore no longer exposed to the surf,
very little sediment could be formed from it; and consequently the
channels leading into the lagoon from not being filled up with drifted
sand and coral detritus, would continue increasing in depth, as the
whole sank down. In this case, we might expect that the currents of the
open sea, instead of any longer sweeping round the submarine flanks,
would flow directly through the breaches across the lagoon, removing in
their course the finer sediment, and preventing its further
accumulation. We should then have the submerged reef forming an
external and upper rim of rock, and beneath this portion of the sandy
bottom of the old lagoon, intersected by deep-water channels or
breaches, and thus formed into separate marginal banks; and these would
be cut off by steep slopes, overhanging the central space, worn down by
the passage of the oceanic currents.
By these means, I have scarcely any doubt that the Great Chagos Bank
has originated,—a structure which at first appeared to me far more
anomalous than any I had met with. The process of formation is nearly
the same with that, by which Mahlos Mahdoo had been trisected; but in
the Chagos Bank the channels of the oceanic currents entering at
several different quarters, have united in a central space.
This great atoll-formed bank appears to be in an early stage of
disseverment; should the work of subsidence go on, from the submerged
and dead condition of the whole reef, and the imperfection of the
south-east quarter a mere wreck would probably be left. The Pitt’s
Bank, situated not far southward, appears to be precisely in this
state; it consists of a moderately level, oblong bank of sand, lying
from 10 to 20 fathoms beneath the surface, with two sides protected by
a narrow ledge of rock which is submerged between 5 and 8 fathoms. A
little further south, at about the same distance as the southern rim of
the Great Chagos Bank is from the northern rim, there are two other
small banks with from 10 to 20 fathoms on them; and not far eastward
soundings were struck on a sandy bottom, with between 110 and 145
fathoms. The northern portion with its ledge-like margin, closely
resembles any one segment of the Great Chagos Bank, between two of the
deep-water channels, and the scattered banks, southward appear to be
the last wrecks of less perfect portions.
I have examined with care the charts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans,
and have now brought before the reader all the examples, which I have
met with, of reefs differing from the type of the class to which they
belong; and I think it has been satisfactorily shown, that they are all
included in our theory, modified by occasional accidents which might
have been anticipated as probable. In this course we have seen, that in
the lapse of ages encircling barrier-reefs are occasionally converted
into atolls, the name of atoll being properly applicable, at the moment
when the last pinnacle of encircled land sinks beneath the surface of
the sea. We have, also, seen that large atolls during the progressive
subsidence of the areas in which they stand, sometimes become
dissevered into smaller ones; at other times, the reef-building
polypifers having entirely perished, atolls are converted into
atoll-formed banks of dead rock; and these again through further
subsidence and the accumulation of sediment modified by the force of
the oceanic currents, pass into level banks with scarcely any
distinguishing character. Thus may the history of an atoll be followed
from its first origin, through the occasional accidents of its
existence, to its destruction and final obliteration.
OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF THE FORMATION OF ATOLLS AND BARRIER-REEFS.
The vast amount of subsidence, both horizontally or in area, and
vertically or in depth, necessary to have submerged every mountain,
even the highest, throughout the immense spaces of ocean interspersed
with atolls, will probably strike most people as a formidable objection
to my theory. But as continents, as large as the spaces supposed to
have subsided, have been raised above the level of the sea,—as whole
regions are now rising, for instance, in Scandinavia and South
America,—and as no reason can be assigned, why subsidences should not
have occurred in some parts of the earth’s crust on as great a scale
both in extent and amount as those of elevation, objections of this
nature strike me as of little force. The remarkable point is that
movements to such an extent should have taken place within a period,
during which the polypifers have continued adding matter on and above
the same reefs. Another and less obvious objection to the theory will
perhaps be advanced from the circumstance, of the lagoons within atolls
and within barrier-reefs never having become in any one instance during
prolonged subsidences of a greater depth than sixty fathoms, and seldom
more than forty fathoms; but we already admit, if the theory be worth
considering, that the rate of subsidence has not exceeded that of the
upward growth of the coral on the exterior margin; we are, therefore,
only further required to admit, that the subsidence has not exceeded in
rate the filling up of the interior spaces by the growth of the corals
living there, and by the accumulation of sediment. As this filling up
must take place very slowly within barrier-reefs lying far from the
land, and within atolls which are of large dimensions and which have
open lagoons with very few reefs, we are led to conclude that the
subsidence thus counter-balanced, must have been slow in an
extraordinary degree; a conclusion which accords with our only means,
namely, with what is known of the rate and manner of recent elevatory
movements, of judging by analogy what is the probable rate of
subsidence.
In this chapter it has, I think, been shown, that the theory of
subsidence, which we were compelled to receive from the necessity of
giving to the corals, in certain large areas, foundations at the
requisite depth, explains both the normal structure and the less
regular forms of those two great classes of reefs, which have justly
excited the astonishment of all persons who have sailed through the
Pacific and Indian Oceans. But further to test the truth of the theory,
a crowd of questions will occur to the reader: Do the different kinds
of reefs, which have been produced by the same kind of movement,
generally lie within the same areas? What is their relation of form and
position,—for instance, do adjoining groups of atolls, and the separate
atolls in these groups, bear the same relation to each other which
islands do in common archipelagoes? Have we reason to believe, that
where there are fringing-reefs, there has not lately been subsidence;
or, for it is almost our only way of ascertaining this point, are there
frequently proofs of recent elevation? Can we by this means account for
the presence of certain classes of reefs in some large areas, and their
entire absence in others? Do the areas which have subsided, as
indicated by the presence of atolls and barrier-reefs, and the areas
which have remained stationary or have been upraised, as shown by
fringing-reefs, bear any determinate relation to each other; and are
the dimensions of these areas such as harmonise with the greatness of
the subterranean changes, which, it must be supposed, have lately taken
place beneath them? Is there any connection between the movements thus
indicated, and recent volcanic action? All these questions ought to
receive answers in accordance with the theory; and if this can be
satisfactorily shown, not only is the theory confirmed, but as
deductions, the answers are in themselves important. Under this latter
point of view, these questions will be chiefly considered in the
following chapter.
(I may take this opportunity of briefly considering the appearances,
which would probably be presented by a vertical and deep section across
a coral formation (referring chiefly to an atoll), formed by the upward
growth of coral during successive subsidences. This is a subject worthy
of attention, as a means of comparison with ancient coral-strata. The
circumferential parts would consist of massive species, in a vertical
position, with their interstices filled up with detritus; but this
would be the part most subject to subsequent denudation and removal. It
is useless to speculate how large a portion of the exterior annular
reef would consist of upright coral, and how much of fragmentary rock,
for this would depend on many contingencies,—such as on the rate of
subsidence, occasionally allowing a fresh growth of coral to cover the
whole surface, and on the breakers having force sufficient to throw
fragments over this same space. The conglomerate which composes the
base of the islets, would (if not removed by denudation together with
the exterior reef on which it rests) be conspicuous from the size of
the fragments,—the different degrees in which they have been
rounded,—the presence of fragments of conglomerate torn up, rounded,
and recemented,—and from the oblique stratification. The corals which
lived in the lagoon-reefs at each successive level, would be preserved
upright, and they would consist of many kinds, generally much branched.
In this part, however, a very large proportion of the rock (and in some
cases nearly all of it) would be formed of sedimentary matter, either
in an excessively fine, or in a moderately coarse state, and with the
particles almost blended together. The conglomerate which was formed of
rounded pieces of the branched corals, on the shores of the lagoon,
would differ from that formed on the islets and derived from the outer
coast; yet both might have accumulated very near each other. I have
seen a conglomerate limestone from Devonshire like a conglomerate now
forming on the shores of the Maldiva atolls. The stratification taken
as a whole, would be horizontal; but the conglomerate beds resting on
the exterior reef, and the beds of sandstone on the shores of the
lagoon (and no doubt on the external flanks) would probably be divided
(as at Keeling atoll and at Mauritius) by numerous layers dipping at
considerable angles in different directions. The calcareous sandstone
and coral-rock would almost necessarily contain innumerable shells,
echini, and the bones of fish, turtle, and perhaps of birds; possibly,
also, the bones of small saurians, as these animals find their way to
the islands far remote from any continent. The large shells of some
species of Tridacna would be found vertically imbedded in the solid
rock, in the position in which they lived. We might expect also to find
a mixture of the remains of pelagic and littoral animals in the strata
formed in the lagoon, for pumice and the seeds of plants are floated
from distant countries into the lagoons of many atolls: on the outer
coast of Keeling atoll, near the mouth of the lagoon, the case of a
pelagic Pteropodous animal was brought up on the arming of the sounding
lead. All the loose blocks of coral on Keeling atoll were burrowed by
vermiform animals; and as every cavity, no doubt, ultimately becomes
filled with spathose limestone, slabs of the rock taken from a
considerable depth, would, if polished, probably exhibit the
excavations of such burrowing animals. The conglomerate and
fine-grained beds of coral-rock would be hard, sonorous, white and
composed of nearly pure calcareous matter; in some few parts, judging
from the specimens at Keeling atoll, they would probably contain a
small quantity of iron. Floating pumice and scoriae, and occasionally
stones transported in the root of trees (see my “Journal of
Researches,” page 549) appear the only sources, through which foreign
matter is brought to coral-formations standing in the open ocean. The
area over which sediment is transported from coral-reefs must be
considerable: Captain Moresby informs me that during the change of
monsoons the sea is discoloured to a considerable distance off the
Maldiva and Chagos atolls. The sediment of fringing and barrier
coral-reefs must be mingled with the mud, which is brought down from
the land, and is transported seaward through the breaches, which occur
in front of almost every valley. If the atolls of the larger
archipelagoes were upraised, the bed of the ocean being converted into
land, they would form flat-topped mountains, varying in diameter from a
few miles (the smallest atolls being worn away) to sixty miles; and
from being horizontally stratified and of similar composition, they
would, as Mr. Lyell has remarked, falsely appear as if they had
originally been united into one vast continuous mass. Such great strata
of coral-rock would rarely be associated with erupted volcanic matter,
for this could only take place, as may be inferred from what follows in
the next chapter, when the area, in which they were situated, commenced
to rise, or at least ceased to subside. During the enormous period
necessary to effect an elevation of the kind just alluded to, the
surface would necessarily be denuded to a great thickness; hence it is
highly improbable that any fringing-reef, or even any barrier-reef, at
least of those encircling small islands, would be preserved. From this
same cause, the strata which were formed within the lagoons of atolls
and lagoon-channels of barrier-reefs, and which must consist in a large
part of sedimentary matter, would more often be preserved to future
ages, than the exterior solid reef, composed of massive corals in an
upright position; although it is on this exterior part that the present
existence and further growth of atolls and barrier-reefs entirely
depend.
CHAPTER VI.
ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS WITH REFERENCE TO THE THEORY OF
THEIR FORMATION.
Description of the coloured map.—Proximity of atolls and
barrier-reefs.— Relation in form and position of atolls with ordinary
islands.—Direct evidence of subsidence difficult to be detected.—Proofs
of recent elevation where fringing-reefs occur.—Oscillations of
level.—Absence of active volcanoes in the areas of
subsidence.—Immensity of the areas which have been elevated and have
subsided.—Their relation to the present distribution of the land.—Areas
of subsidence elongated, their intersection and alternation with those
of elevation.—Amount and slow rate of the subsidence.—Recapitulation.
It will be convenient to give here a short account of the appended map
(Plate III.) [Inasmuch as the coloured map would have proved too costly
to be given in this series, the indications of colour have been
replaced by numbers referring to the dotted groups of reefs, etc. The
author’s original wording, however, is retained in full, as it will be
easy to refer to the map by the numbers, and thus the flow of the
narrative is undisturbed.]: a fuller one, with the data for colouring
each spot, is reserved for the Appendix; and every place there referred
to may be found in the Index. A larger chart would have been desirable;
but, small as the adjoined one is, it is the result of many months’
labour. I have consulted, as far as I was able, every original voyage
and map; and the colours were first laid down on charts on a larger
scale. The same blue colour, with merely a difference in the depth of
tint, is used for atolls or lagoon-islands, and barrier-reefs, for we
have seen, that as far as the actual coral-formation is concerned, they
have no distinguishing character. Fringing-reefs have been coloured
red, for between them on the one hand, and barrier-reefs and atolls on
the other, there is an important distinction with respect to the depth
beneath the surface, at which we are compelled to believe their
foundations lie. The two distinct colours, therefore, mark two great
types of structure.
The DARK BLUE COLOUR [represented by (3) in our plate] represents
atolls and submerged annular reefs, with deep water in their centres. I
have coloured as atolls, a few low and small coral-islands, without
lagoons; but this has been done only when it clearly appeared that they
originally contained lagoons, since filled up with sediment: when there
were not good grounds for this belief, they have been left uncoloured.
The PALE BLUE COLOUR [represented by (2)] represents barrier-reefs. The
most obvious character of reefs of this class is the broad and
deep-water moat within the reef: but this, like the lagoons of small
atolls, is liable to become filled up with detritus and with reefs of
delicately branched corals: when, therefore, a reef round the entire
circumference of an island extends very far into a profoundly deep sea,
so that it can hardly be confounded with a fringing-reef which must
rest on a foundation of rock within a small depth, it has been coloured
pale blue, although it does not include a deep-water moat: but this has
only been done rarely, and each case is distinctly mentioned in the
Appendix.
The RED COLOUR (4) represents reefs fringing the land quite closely
where the sea is deep, and where the bottom is gently inclined
extending to a moderate distance from it, but not having a deep-water
moat or lagoon-like space parallel to the shore. It must be remembered
that fringing-reefs are frequently BREACHED in front of rivers and
valleys by deepish channels, where mud has been deposited. A space of
thirty miles in width has been coloured round or in front of the reefs
of each class, in order that the colours might be conspicuous on the
appended map, which is reduced to so small a scale.
The VERMILLION SPOTS, and streaks (1) represent volcanoes now in
action, or historically known to have been so. They are chiefly laid
down from Von Buch’s work on the Canary Islands; and my reasons for
making a few alterations are given in the note below.
(I have also made considerable use of the geological part of Berghaus’
“Physical Atlas.” Beginning at the eastern side of the Pacific, I have
added to the number of the volcanoes in the southern part of the
Cordillera, and have coloured Juan Fernandez according to observations
collected during the voyage of the “Beagle” (“Geological Transactions,”
volume v., page 601.) I have added a volcano to Albemarle Island, one
of the Galapagos Archipelago (the author’s “Journal of Researches,”
page 457). In the Sandwich group there are no active volcanoes, except
at Hawaii; but the Rev. W. Ellis informs me, there are streams of lava
apparently modern on Maui, having a very recent appearance, which can
be traced to the craters whence they flowed. The same gentleman informs
me, that there is no reason to believe that any active volcano exists
in the Society Archipelago; nor are there any known in the Samoa or
Navigator group, although some of the streams of lava and craters there
appear recent. In the Friendly group, the Rev. J. Williams says
(“Narrative of Missionary Enterprise,” page 29) that Toofoa and Proby
Islands are active volcanoes. I infer from Hamilton’s “Voyage in the
‘Pandora’” (Page 95), that Proby Island is synonymous with Onouafou,
but I have not ventured to colour it. There can be no doubt respecting
Toofoa, and Captain Edwards (Von Buch, page 386) found the lava of
recent eruption at Amargura still smoking. Berghaus marks four active
volcanoes actually within the Friendly group; but I do not know on what
authority: I may mention that Maurelle describes Latte as having a
burnt-up appearance: I have marked only Toofoa and Amargura. South of
the New Hebrides lies Matthews Rock, which is drawn and described as an
active crater in the “Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’.” Between it and the
volcano on the eastern side of New Zealand, lies Brimstone Island,
which from the high temperature of the water in the crater, may be
ranked as active (Berghaus “Vorbemerk,” II Lief. S. 56). Malte Brun,
volume xii., page 231, says that there is a volcano near port St.
Vincent in New Caledonia. I believe this to be an error, arising from a
smoke seen on the OPPOSITE coast by Cook (“Second Voyage,” volume ii.,
page 23) which smoke went out at night. The Mariana Islands, especially
the northern ones, contain many craters (see Freycinet’s “Hydrog.
Descript.”) which are not active. Von Buch, however, states (page 462)
on the authority of La Peyrouse, that there are no less than seven
volcanoes between these islands and Japan. Gemelli Creri (Churchill’s
“Collect.” volume iv., page 458), says there are two active volcanoes
in latitude 23 deg 30′, and in latitude 24 deg: but I have not coloured
them. From the statements in Beechey’s “Voyage” (page 518, 4to edition)
I have coloured one in the northern part of the Bonin group. M. S.
Julien has clearly made out from Chinese manuscripts not very ancient
(“Comptes Rendus,” 1840, page 832), that there are two active volcanoes
on the eastern side of Formosa. In Torres Straits, on Cap Island (9 deg
48′ S., 142 deg 39′ E.) a volcano was seen burning with great violence
in 1793 by Captain Bampton (see Introduction to Flinders’ “Voyage,”
page 41). Mr. M’Clelland (Report of Committee for investigating Coal in
India, page 39) has shown that the volcanic band passing through Barren
Island must be extended northwards. It appears by an old chart, that
Cheduba was once an active volcano (see also “Silliman’s North American
Journal”, volume xxxviii., page 385). In Berghaus’ “Physical Atlas,”
1840, No. 7 of Geological Part, a volcano on the coast of Pondicherry
is said to have burst forth in 1757. Ordinaire (“Hist. Nat. des
Volcans,” page 218) says that there is one at the mouth of the Persian
Gulf, but I have not coloured it, as he gives no particulars. A volcano
in Amsterdam, or St. Paul’s, in the southern part of the Indian Ocean,
has been seen (“Naut. Mag.” 1838, page 842) in action. Dr. J. Allan, of
Forres, informs me in a letter, that when he was at Joanna, he saw at
night flames apparently volcanic, issuing from the chief Comoro Island,
and that the Arabs assured him that they were volcanic, adding that the
volcano burned more during the wet season. I have marked this as a
volcano, though with some hesitation, on account of the possibility of
the flame arising from gaseous sources.)
The uncoloured coasts consist, first and chiefly, of those, where there
are no coral-reefs, or such small portions as to be quite
insignificant. Secondly, of those coasts where there are reefs, but
where the sea is very shallow, for in this case the reefs generally lie
far from the land, and become very irregular, in their forms: where
they have not become irregular, they have been coloured. thirdly, if I
had the means of ascertaining the fact, I should not colour a reef
merely coating the edges of a submarine crater, or of a level submerged
bank; for such superficial formations differ essentially, even when not
in external appearance, from reefs whose foundations as well as
superficies have been wholly formed by the growth of coral. Fourthly,
in the Red Sea, and within some parts of the East Indian Archipelago
(if the imperfect charts of the latter can be trusted), there are many
scattered reefs, of small size, represented in the chart by mere dots,
which rise out of deep water: these cannot be arranged under either of
the three classes: in the Red Sea, however, some of these little reefs,
from their position, seem once to have formed parts of a continuous
barrier. There exist, also, scattered in the open ocean, some linear
and irregularly formed strips of coral-reef, which, as shown in the
last chapter, are probably allied in their origin to atolls; but as
they do not belong to that class, they have not been coloured; they are
very few in number and of insignificant dimensions. Lastly, some reefs
are left uncoloured from the want of information respecting them, and
some because they are of an intermediate structure between the barrier
and fringing classes. The value of the map is lessened, in proportion
to the number of reefs which I have been obliged to leave uncoloured,
although, in a theoretical point of view, few of them present any great
difficulty: but their number is not very great, as will be found by
comparing the map with the statements in the Appendix. I have
experienced more difficulty in colouring fringing-reefs than in
colouring barrier-reefs, as the former, from their much less
dimensions, have less attracted the attention of navigators. As I have
had to seek my information from all kinds of sources, and often from
indirect ones, I do not venture to hope that the map is free from many
errors. Nevertheless, I trust it will give an approximately correct
view of the general distribution of the coral-reefs over the whole
world (with the exception of some fringing-reefs on the coast of
Brazil, not included within the limits of the map), and of their
arrangement into the three great classes, which, though necessarily
very imperfect from the nature of the objects classified, have been
adopted by most voyagers. I may further remark, that the dark blue
colour represents land entirely composed of coral-rock; the pale blue,
land with a wide and thick border of coral-rock; and the red, a mere
narrow fringe of coral-rock.
Looking now at the map under the theoretical point of view indicated in
the last chapter, the two blue tints signify that the foundations of
the reefs thus coloured have subsided to a considerable amount, at a
slower rate than that of the upward growth of the corals, and that
probably in many cases they are still subsiding. The red signifies that
the shores which support fringing-reefs have not subsided (at least to
any considerable amount, for the effects of a subsidence on a small
scale would in no case be distinguishable); but that they have remained
nearly stationary since the period when they first became fringed by
reefs; or that they are now rising or have been upraised, with new
lines of reefs successively formed on them: these latter alternatives
are obviously implied, as newly formed lines of shore, after elevations
of the land, would be in the same state with respect to the growth of
fringing-reefs, as stationary coasts. If during the prolonged
subsidence of a shore, coral-reefs grew for the first time on it, or if
an old barrier-reef were destroyed and submerged, and new reefs became
attached to the land, these would necessarily at first belong to the
fringing class, and, therefore, be coloured red, although the coast was
sinking: but I have no reason to believe, that from this source of
error, any coast has been coloured wrongly with respect to movement
indicated. Well characterised atolls and encircling barrier-reefs,
where several occur in a group, or a single barrier-reef if of large
dimensions, leave scarcely any doubt on the mind respecting the
movement by which they have been produced; and even a small amount of
subsequent elevation is soon betrayed. The evidence from a single atoll
or a single encircling barrier-reef, must be received with some
caution, for the former may possibly be based upon a submerged crater
or bank, and the latter on a submerged margin of sediment, or of
worn-down rock. From these remarks we may with greater certainty infer
that the spaces, especially the larger ones, tinted blue in the map,
have subsided, than that the red spaces have remained stationary, or
have been upraised.
ON THE GROUPING OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF REEFS.
Having made these preliminary remarks, I will consider first how far
the grouping of the different kinds of coral-islands and reefs is
corroborative of the truth of the theory. A glance at the map shows
that the reefs, coloured blue and red, produced under widely different
conditions, are not indiscriminately mixed together. Atolls and
barrier-reefs, on the other hand, as may be seen by the two blue tints,
generally lie near each other; and this would be the natural result of
both having been produced during the subsidence of the areas in which
they stand. Thus, the largest group of encircled islands is that of the
Society Archipelago; and these islands are surrounded by atolls, and
only separated by a narrow space from the large group of Low atolls. In
the midst of the Caroline atolls, there are three fine encircled
islands. The northern point of the barrier-reef of New Caledonia seems
itself, as before remarked, to form a complete large atoll. The great
Australian barrier is described as including both atolls and small
encircled islands. Captain King (Sailing directions, appended to volume
ii. of his “Surveying Voyage to Australia.”) mentions many atoll-formed
and encircling coral-reefs, some of which lie within the barrier, and
others may be said (for instance between latitude 16 deg and 13 deg) to
form part of it. Flinders (“Voyage to Terra Australis,” volume ii. page
336.) has described an atoll-formed reef in latitude 10 deg, seven
miles long and from one to three broad, resembling a boot in shape,
with apparently very deep water within. Eight miles westward of this,
and forming part of the barrier, lie the Murray Islands, which are high
and are encircled. In the Corallian Sea, between the two great barriers
of Australia and New Caledonia, there are many low islets and
coral-reefs, some of which are annular, or horse-shoe shaped. Observing
the smallness of the scale of the map, the parallels of latitude being
nine hundred miles apart, we see that none of the large groups of reefs
and islands supposed to have been produced by long-continued
subsidence, lie near extensive lines of coast coloured red, which are
supposed to have remained stationary since the growth of their reefs,
or to have been upraised and new lines of reefs formed on them. Where
the red and blue circles do occur near each other, I am able, in
several instances, to show that there have been oscillations of level,
subsidence having preceded the elevation of the red spots; and
elevation having preceded the subsidence of the blue spots: and in this
case the juxtaposition of reefs belonging to the two great types of
structure is little surprising. We may, therefore, conclude that the
proximity in the same areas of the two classes of reefs, which owe
their origin to the subsidence of the earth’s crust, and their
separation from those formed during its stationary or uprising
condition, holds good to the full extent, which might have been
anticipated by our theory.
As groups of atolls have originated in the upward growth, at each fresh
sinking of the land, of those reefs which primarily fringed the shores
of one great island, or of several smaller ones; so we might expect
that these rings of coral-rock, like so many rude outline charts, will
still retain some traces of the general form, or at least general
range, of the land, round which they were first modelled. That this is
the case with the atolls in the Southern Pacific as far as their range
is concerned, seems highly probable, when we observe that the three
principal groups are directed in north-west and south-east lines, and
that nearly all the land in the S. Pacific ranges in this same
direction; namely, N. Western Australia, New Caledonia, the northern
half of New Zealand, the New Hebrides, Saloman, Navigator, Society,
Marquesas, and Austral archipelagoes: in the Northern Pacific, the
Caroline atolls abut against the north-west line of the Marshall
atolls, much in the same manner as the east and west line of islands
from Ceram to New Britain do on New Ireland: in the Indian Ocean the
Laccadive and Maldiva atolls extend nearly parallel to the western and
mountainous coast of India. In most respects, there is a perfect
resemblance with ordinary islands in the grouping of atolls and in
their form: thus the outline of all the larger groups is elongated; and
the greater number of the individual atolls are elongated in the same
direction with the group, in which they stand. The Chagos group is less
elongated than is usual with other groups, and the individual atolls in
it are likewise but little elongated; this is strikingly seen by
comparing them with the neighbouring Maldiva atolls. In the Marshall
and Maldiva archipelagoes, the atolls are ranged in two parallel lines,
like the mountains in a great double mountain-chain. Some of the
atolls, in the larger archipelagoes, stand so near to each other, and
have such an evident relationship in form, that they compose little
sub-groups: in the Caroline Archipelago, one such sub-group consists of
Pouynipete, a lofty island encircled by a barrier-reef, and separated
by a channel only four miles and a half wide from Andeema atoll, with a
second atoll a little further off. In all these respects an examination
of a series of charts will show how perfectly groups of atolls resemble
groups of common islands.
ON THE DIRECT EVIDENCE OF THE BLUE SPACES IN THE MAP HAVING SUBSIDED
DURING THE UPWARD GROWTH OF THE REEFS SO COLOURED, AND OF THE RED
SPACES HAVING REMAINED STATIONARY, OR HAVING BEEN UPRAISED.
With respect to subsidence, I have shown in the last chapter, that we
cannot expect to obtain in countries inhabited only by semi-civilised
races, demonstrative proofs of a movement, which invariably tends to
conceal its own evidence. But on the coral-islands supposed to have
been produced by subsidence, we have proofs of changes in their
external appearance—of a round of decay and renovation—of the last
vestiges of land on some—of its first commencement on others: we hear
of storms desolating them to the astonishment of their inhabitants: we
know by the great fissures with which some of them are traversed, and
by the earthquakes felt under others, that subterranean disturbances of
some kind are in progress. These facts, if not directly connected with
subsidence, as I believe they are, at least show how difficult it would
be to discover proofs of such movement by ordinary means. At Keeling
atoll, however, I have described some appearances, which seem directly
to show that subsidence did take place there during the late
earthquakes. Vanikoro, according to Chevalier Dillon (See Captain
Dillon’s “Voyage in search of La Peyrouse.” M. Cordier in his “Report
on the Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’” (page cxi., volume i.), speaking of
Vanikoro, says the shores are surrounded by reefs of madrepore, “qu’on
assure etre de formation tout-a-fait moderne.” I have in vain
endeavoured to learn some further particulars about this remarkable
passage. I may here add, that according to our theory, the island of
Pouynipete (Plate I., Figure 7), in the Caroline Archipelago, being
encircled by a barrier-reef, must have subsided. In the “New S. Wales
Lit. Advert.” February 1835 (which I have seen through the favour of
Dr. Lloghtsky), there is an account of this island (subsequently
confirmed by Mr. Campbell), in which it is said, “At the N.E. end, at a
place called Tamen, there are ruins of a town, NOW ONLY accessible by
boats, the waves REACHING TO THE STEPS OF The HOUSES.” Judging from
this passage, one would be tempted to conclude that the island must
have subsided, since these houses were built. I may, also, here append
a statement in Malte Brun (volume ix., page 775, given without any
authority), that the sea gains in an extraordinary manner on the coast
of Cochin China, which lies in front and near the subsiding coral-reefs
in the China Sea: as the coast is granitic, and not alluvial, it is
scarcely possible that the encroachment of the sea can be owing to the
washing away of the land; and if so, it must be due to subsidence.), is
often violently shaken by earthquakes, and there, the unusual depth of
the channel between the shore and the reef,—the almost entire absence
of islets on the reef,— its wall-like structure on the inner side, and
the small quantity of low alluvial land at the foot of the mountains,
all seem to show that this island has not remained long at its present
level, with the lagoon-channel subjected to the accumulation of
sediment, and the reef to the wear and tear of the breakers. At the
Society Archipelago, on the other hand, where a slight tremor is only
rarely felt, the shoaliness of the lagoon-channels round some of the
islands, the number of islets formed on the reefs of others, and the
broad belt of low land at the foot of the mountains, indicate that,
although there must have been great subsidence to have produced the
barrier-reefs, there has since elapsed a long stationary period.
(Mr. Couthouy states (“Remarks,” page 44) that at Tahiti and Eimeo the
space between the reef and the shore has been nearly filled up by the
extension of those coral-reefs, which within most barrier-reefs merely
fringe the land. From this circumstance, he arrives at the same
conclusion as I have done, that the Society Islands since their
subsidence, have remained stationary during a long period; but he
further believes that they have recently commenced rising, as well as
the whole area of the Low Archipelago. He does not give any detailed
proofs regarding the elevation of the Society Islands, but I shall
refer to this subject in another part of this chapter. Before making
some further comments, I may observe how satisfactory it is to me, to
find Mr. Couthouy affirming, that “having personally examined a large
number of coral-islands, and also residing eight months among the
volcanic class, having shore and partially encircling reefs, I may be
permitted to state that my own observations have impressed a conviction
of the correctness of the theory of Mr. Darwin.”
This gentleman believes, that subsequently to the subsidence by which
the atolls in the Low Archipelago were produced, the whole area has
been elevated to the amount of a few feet; this would indeed be a
remarkable fact; but as far as I am able to judge, the grounds of his
conclusion are not sufficiently strong. He states that he found in
almost every atoll which he visited, the shores of the lagoon raised
from eighteen to thirty inches above the sea-level, and containing
imbedded Tridacnae and corals standing as they grew; some of the corals
were dead in their upper parts, but below a certain line they continued
to flourish. In the lagoons, also, he frequently met with clusters of
Madrepore, with their extremities standing from one inch to a foot
above the surface of the water. Now, these appearances are exactly what
I should have expected, without any subsequent elevation having taken
place; and I think Mr. Couthouy has not borne in mind the indisputable
fact, that corals, when constantly bathed by the surf, can exist at a
higher level than in quite tranquil water, as in a lagoon. As long,
therefore, as the waves continued at low water to break entirely over
parts of the annular reef of an atoll, submerged to a small depth, the
corals and shells attached on these parts might continue living at a
level above the smooth surface of the lagoon, into which the waves
rolled; but as soon as the outer edge of the reef grew up to its utmost
possible height, or if the reef were very broad nearly to that height,
the force of the breakers would be checked, and the corals and shells
on the inner parts near the lagoon would occasionally be left dry, and
thus be partially or wholly destroyed. Even in atolls, which have not
lately subsided, if the outer margin of the reef continued to increase
in breadth seaward (each fresh zone of corals rising to the same
vertical height as at Keeling atoll), the line where the waves broke
most heavily would advance outwards, and therefore the corals, which
when living near the margin, were washed by the breaking waves during
the whole of each tide, would cease being so, and would therefore be
left on the backward part of the reef standing exposed and dead. The
case of the madrepores in the lagoons with the tops of their branches
exposed, seems to be an analogous fact, to the great fields of dead but
upright corals in the lagoon of Keeling atoll; a condition of things
which I have endeavoured to show, has resulted from the lagoon having
become more and more enclosed and choked up with reefs, so that during
high winds, the rising of the tide (as observed by the inhabitants) is
checked, and the corals, which had formerly grown to the greatest
possible height, are occasionally exposed, and thus are killed: and
this is a condition of things, towards which almost every atoll in the
intervals of its subsidence must be tending. Or if we look to the state
of an atoll directly after a subsidence of some fathoms, the waves
would roll heavily over the entire circumference of the reef, and the
surface of the lagoon would, like the ocean, never be quite at rest,
and therefore the corals in the lagoon, from being constantly laved by
the rippling water, might extend their branches to a little greater
height than they could, when the lagoon became enclosed and protected.
Christmas atoll (2 deg N. latitude) which has a very shallow lagoon,
and differs in several respects from most atolls, possibly may have
been elevated recently; but its highest part appears (Couthouy, page
46) to be only ten feet above the sea-level. The facts of a second
class, adduced by Mr. Couthouy, in support of the alleged recent
elevation of the Low Archipelago, are not all (especially those
referring to a shelf of rock) quite intelligible to me; he believes
that certain enormous fragments of rock on the reef, must have been
moved into their present position, when the reef was at a lower level;
but here again the force of the breakers on any inner point of the reef
being diminished by its outward growth without any change in its level,
has not, I think, been borne in mind. We should, also, not overlook the
occasional agency of waves caused by earthquakes and hurricanes. Mr.
Couthouy further argues, that since these great fragments were
deposited and fixed on the reef, they have been elevated; he infers
this from the greatest amount of erosion not being near their bases,
where they are unceasingly washed by the reflux of the tides, but at
some height on their sides, near the line of high-water mark, as shown
in an accompanying diagram. My former remark again applies here, with
this further observation, that as the waves have to roll over a wide
space of reef before they reach the fragments, their force must be
greatly increased with the increasing depth of water as the tide rises,
and therefore I should have expected that the chief line of present
erosion would have coincided with the line of high-water mark; and if
the reef had grown outwards, that there would have been lines of
erosion at greater heights. The conclusion, to which I am finally led
by the interesting observations of Mr. Couthouy is, that the atolls in
the Low Archipelago have, like the Society Islands, remained at a
stationary level for a long period: and this probably is the ordinary
course of events, subsidence supervening after long intervals of rest.)
Turning now to the red colour; as on our map, the areas which have sunk
slowly downwards to great depths are many and large, we might naturally
have been led to conjecture, that with such great changes of level in
progress, the coasts which have been fringed probably for ages (for we
have no reason to believe that coral-reefs are of short duration),
would not have remained all this time stationary, but would frequently
have undergone movements of elevation. This supposition, we shall
immediately see, holds good to a remarkable extent; and although a
stationary condition of the land can hardly ever be open to proof, from
the evidence being only negative, we are, in some degree, enabled to
ascertain the correctness of the parts coloured red on the map, by the
direct testimony of upraised organic remains of a modern date. Before
going into the details on this head (printed in small type), I may
mention, that when reading a memoir on coral formations by MM. Quoy and
Gaimard (“Annales des Sciences Nat.” tom. vi., page 279, etc.) I was
astonished to find, for I knew that they had crossed both the Pacific
and Indian Oceans, that their descriptions were applicable only to
reefs of the fringing class; but my astonishment ended satisfactorily,
when I discovered that, by a strange chance, all the islands which
these eminent naturalists had visited, though several in number,
namely, the Mauritius, Timor, New Guinea, the Mariana, and Sandwich
Archipelagoes, could be shown by their own statements to have been
elevated within a recent geological era.
In the eastern half of the Pacific, the SANDWICH Islands are all
fringed, and almost every naturalist who has visited them, has remarked
on the abundance of elevated corals and shells, apparently identical
with living species. The Rev. W. Ellis informs me, that he has noticed
round several parts of Hawaii, beds of coral-detritus, about twenty
feet above the level of the sea, and where the coast is low they extend
far inland. Upraised coral-rock forms a considerable part of the
borders of Oahu; and at Elizabeth Island (“Zoology of Captain Beechey’s
Voyage,” page 176. See also MM. Quoy and Gaimard in “Annales de Scien.
Nat.” tom. vi.) it composes three strata, each about ten feet thick.
Nihau, which forms the northern, as Hawaii does the southern end of the
group (350 miles in length), likewise seems to consist of coral and
volcanic rocks. Mr. Couthouy (“Remarks on Coral Formations,” page 51.)
has lately described with interesting details, several upraised
beaches, ancient reefs with their surfaces perfectly preserved, and
beds of recent shells and corals, at the islands of Maui, Morokai,
Oahu, and Tauai (or Kauai) in this group. Mr. Pierce, an intelligent
resident at Oahu, is convinced, from changes which have taken place
within his memory, during the last sixteen years, “that the elevation
is at present going forward at a very perceptible rate.” The natives at
Kauai state that the land is there gaining rapidly on the sea, and Mr.
Couthouy has no doubt, from the nature of the strata, that this has
been effected by an elevation of the land.
In the southern part of the Low Archipelago, Elizabeth Island is
described by Captain Beechey (Beechey’s “Voyage in the Pacific,” page
46, 4to edition.), as being quite flat, and about eighty feet in
height; it is entirely composed of dead corals, forming a honeycombed,
but compact rock. In cases like this, of an island having exactly the
appearance, which the elevation of any one of the smaller surrounding
atolls with a shallow lagoon would present, one is led to conclude
(with little better reason, however, than the improbability of such
small and low fabrics lasting, for an immense period, exposed to the
many destroying agents of nature), that the elevation has taken place
at an epoch not geologically remote. When merely the surface of an
island of ordinary formation is strewed with marine bodies, and that
continuously, or nearly so, from the beach to a certain height, and not
above that height, it is exceedingly improbable that such organic
remains, although they may not have been specially examined, should
belong to any ancient period. It is necessary to bear these remarks in
mind, in considering the evidence of the elevatory movements in the
Pacific and Indian Oceans, as it does not often rest on specific
determinations, and therefore should be received with caution. Six of
the COOK AND AUSTRAL Islands (S.W. of the Society group), are fringed;
of these, five were described to me by the Rev. J. Williams, as formed
of coral-rock, associated with some basalt in Mangaia), and the sixth
as lofty and basaltic. Mangaia is nearly three hundred feet high, with
a level summit; and according to Mr. S. Wilson (Couthouy’s “Remarks,”
page 34.) it is an upraised reef; “and there are in the central hollow,
formerly the bed of the lagoon, many scattered patches of coral-rock,
some of them raised to a height of forty feet.” These knolls of
coral-rock were evidently once separate reefs in the lagoon of an
atoll. Mr. Martens, at Sydney, informed me that this island is
surrounded by a terrace-like plain at about the height of a hundred
feet, which probably marks a pause in its elevation. From these facts
we may infer, perhaps, that the Cook and Austral Islands have been
upheaved at a period probably not very remote.
SAVAGE Island (S.E. of the Friendly group), is about forty feet in
height. Forster (“Observations made during Voyage round the World,”
page 147.) describes the plants as already growing out of the dead, but
still upright and spreading trees of coral; and the younger Forster
(“Voyage,” volume ii., page 163.) believes that an ancient lagoon is
now represented by a central plain; here we cannot doubt that the
elevatory forces have recently acted. The same conclusion may be
extended, though with somewhat less certainty, to the islands of the
FRIENDLY GROUP, which have been well described in the second and third
voyages of Cook. The surface of Tongatabou is low and level, but with
some parts a hundred feet high; the whole consists of coral-rock,
“which yet shows the cavities and irregularities worn into it by the
action of the tides.” (Cook’s “Third Voyage” (4to edition), volume i.,
page 314.) On Eoua the same appearances were noticed at an elevation of
between two hundred and three hundred feet. Vavao, also, at the
opposite or northern end of the group, consists, according to the Rev.
J. Williams, of coral-rock. Tongatabou, with its northern extensive
reefs, resembles either an upraised atoll with one half originally
imperfect, or one unequally elevated; and Anamouka, an atoll equally
elevated. This latter island contains (Ibid., volume i., page 235.) in
its centre a salt-water lake, about a mile-and-a-half in diameter,
without any communication with the sea, and around it the land rises
gradually like a bank; the highest part is only between twenty and
thirty feet; but on this part, as well as on the rest of the land
(which, as Cook observes, rises above the height of true
lagoon-islands), coral-rock, like that on the beach, was found. In the
NAVIGATOR ARCHIPELAGO, Mr. Couthouy (“Remarks on Coral-Formations,”
page 50.) found on Manua many and very large fragments of coral at the
height of eighty feet, “on a steep hill-side, rising half a mile inland
from a low sandy plain abounding in marine remains.” The fragments were
embedded in a mixture of decomposed lava and sand. It is not stated
whether they were accompanied by shells, or whether the corals
resembled recent species; as these remains were embedded they possibly
may belong to a remote epoch; but I presume this was not the opinion of
Mr. Couthouy. Earthquakes are very frequent in this archipelago.
Still proceeding westward we come to the NEW HEBRIDES; on these
islands, Mr. G. Bennett (author of “Wanderings in New South Wales”),
informs me he found much coral at a great altitude, which he considered
of recent origin. Respecting SANTA CRUZ, and the SOLOMON ARCHIPELAGO, I
have no information; but at New Ireland, which forms the northern point
of the latter chain, both Labillardiere and Lesson have described large
beds of an apparently very modern madreporitic rock, with the form of
the corals little altered. The latter author (“Voyage de la
‘Coquille’,” Part. Zoolog.) states that this formation composes a newer
line of coast, modelled round an ancient one. There only remains to be
described in the Pacific, that curved line of fringed islands, of which
the MARIANAS form the main part. Of these Guam, Rota, Tiniam, Saypan,
and some islets farther north, are described by Quoy and Gaimard
(Freycinet’s “Voyage autour du Monde.” See also the “Hydrographical
Memoir,” page 215.), and Chamisso (Kotzebue’s “First Voyage.”), as
chiefly composed of madreporitic limestone, which attains a
considerable elevation, and is in several cases worn into successively
rising cliffs: the two former naturalists seem to have compared the
corals and shells with the existing ones, and state that they are of
recent species. FAIS, which lies in the prolonged line of the Marianas,
is the only island in this part of the sea which is fringed; it is
ninety feet high, and consists entirely of madreporitic rock. (Lutke’s
“Voyage,” volume ii., page 304.)
In the EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, many authors have recorded proofs of
recent elevation. M. Lesson (Partie Zoolog., “Voyage de la
‘Coquille’.”) states, that near Port Dory, on the north coast of New
Guinea, the shores are flanked, to the height of 150 feet, by
madreporitic strata of modern date. He mentions similar formations at
Waigiou, Amboina, Bourou, Ceram, Sonda, and Timor: at this latter
place, MM. Quoy and Gaimard (“Ann. des Scien. Nat.” tom. vi., page
281.) have likewise described the primitive rocks, as coated to a
considerable height with coral. Some small islets eastward of Timor are
said in Kolff’s “Voyage,” (translated by Windsor Earl, chapters vi.,
vii.) to resemble small coral islets upraised some feet above the sea.
Dr. Malcolmson informs me that Dr. Hardie found in JAVA an extensive
formation, containing an abundance of shells, of which the greater part
appear to be of existing species. Dr. Jack (“Geolog. Transact.” 2nd
series, volume i., page 403. On the Peninsula of Malacca, in front of
Pinang, 5 deg 30′ N., Dr. Ward collected some shells, which Dr.
Malcolmson informs me, although not compared with existing species, had
a recent appearance. Dr. Ward describes in this neighbourhood (“Trans.
Asiat. Soc.” volume xviii., part ii., page 166) a single water-worn
rock, with a conglomerate of sea-shells at its base, situated six miles
inland, which, according to the traditions of the natives, was once
surrounded by the sea. Captain Low has also described (Ibid., part i.,
page 131) mounds of shells lying two miles inland on this line of
coast.) has described some upraised shells and corals, apparently
recent, on Pulo Nias off SUMATRA; and Marsden relates in his history of
this great island, that the names of many promontories, show that they
were originally islands. On part of the west coast of BORNEO and at the
SOOLOO Islands, the form of the land, the nature of the soil, and the
water-washed rocks, present appearances (“Notices of the East Indian
Arch.” Singapore, 1828, page 6, and Append., page 43.) (although it is
doubtful whether such vague evidence is worthy of mention), of having
recently been covered by the sea; and the inhabitants of the Sooloo
Islands believe that this has been the case. Mr. Cuming, who has lately
investigated, with so much success, the natural history of the
PHILIPPINES, found near Cabagan, in Luzon, about fifty feet above the
level of the R. Cagayan, and seventy miles from its mouth, a large bed
of fossil shells: these, he informs me, are of the same species with
those now existing on the shores of the neighbouring islands. From the
accounts given us by Captain Basil Hall and Captain Beechey (Captain B.
Hall, “Voyage to Loo Choo,” Append., pages xxi. and xxv. Captain
Beechey’s “Voyage,” page 496.) of the lines of inland reefs, and walls
of coral-rock worn into caves, above the present reach of the waves, at
the LOO CHOO Islands, there can be little doubt that they have been
upraised at no very remote period.
Dr. Davy describes the northern province of CEYLON (“Travels in
Ceylon,” page 13. This madreporitic formation is mentioned by M.
Cordier in his report to the Institute (May 4th, 1839), on the voyage
of the “Chevrette”, as one of immense extent, and belonging to the
latest tertiary period.) as being very low, and consisting of a
limestone with shells and corals of very recent origin; he adds, that
it does not admit of a doubt that the sea has retired from this
district even within the memory of man. There is also some reason for
believing that the western shores of India, north of Ceylon, have been
upraised within the recent period. (Dr. Benza, in his “Journey through
the N. Circars” (the “Madras Lit. and Scient. Journ.” volume v.) has
described a formation with recent fresh-water and marine shells,
occurring at the distance of three or four miles from the present
shore. Dr. Benza, in conversation with me, attributed their position to
a rise of the land. Dr. Malcolmson, however (and there cannot be a
higher authority on the geology of India) informs me that he suspects
that these beds may have been formed by the mere action of the waves
and currents accumulating sediment. From analogy I should much incline
to Dr. Benza’s opinion.) MAURITIUS has certainly been upraised within
the recent period, as I have stated in the chapter on fringing-reefs.
The northern extremity of MADAGASCAR is described by Captain Owen
(Owen’s “Africa,” volume ii., page 37, for Madagascar; and for S.
Africa, volume i., pages 412 and 426. Lieutenant Boteler’s narrative
contains fuller particulars regarding the coral-rock, volume i., page
174, and volume ii., pages 41 and 54. See also Ruschenberger’s “Voyage
round the World,” volume i., page 60.) as formed of madreporitic rock,
as likewise are the shores and outlying islands along an immense space
of EASTERN AFRICA, from a little north of the equator for nine hundred
miles southward. Nothing can be more vague than the expression
“madreporitic rock;” but at the same time it is, I think, scarcely
possible to look at the chart of the linear islets, which rise to a
greater height than can be accounted for by the growth of coral, in
front of the coast, from the equator to 2 deg S., without feeling
convinced that a line of fringing-reefs has been elevated at a period
so recent, that no great changes have since taken place on the surface
of this part of the globe. Some, also, of the higher islands of
madreporitic rock on this coast, for instance Pemba, have very singular
forms, which seem to show the combined effect of the growth of coral
round submerged banks, and their subsequent upheaval. Dr. Allan informs
me that he never observed any elevated organic remains on the
SEYCHELLES, which come under our fringed class.
The nature of the formations round the shores of the RED SEA, as
described by several authors, shows that the whole of this large area
has been elevated within a very recent tertiary epoch. A part of this
space in the appended map, is coloured blue, indicating the presence of
barrier-reefs: on which circumstance I shall presently make some
remarks. Ruppell (Ruppell, “Reise in Abyssinien,” Band i., s. 141.)
states that the tertiary formation, of which he has examined the
organic remains, forms a fringe along the shores with a uniform height
of from thirty and forty feet from the mouth of the Gulf of Suez to
about latitude 26 deg; but that south of 26 deg, the beds attain only
the height of from twelve to fifteen feet. This, however, can hardly be
quite accurate; although possibly there may be a decrease in the
elevation of the shores in the middle parts of the Red Sea, for Dr.
Malcolmson (as he informs me) collected from the cliffs of Camaran
Island (latitude 15 deg 30′ S.) shells and corals, apparently recent,
at a height between thirty and forty feet; and Mr. Salt (“Travels in
Abyssinia”) describes a similar formation a little southward on the
opposite shore at Amphila. Moreover, near the mouth of the Gulf of
Suez, although on the coast opposite to that on which Dr. Ruppell says
that the modern beds attain a height of only thirty to forty feet, Mr.
Burton (Lyell’s “Principles of Geology,” 5th edition, volume iv., page
25.) found a deposit replete with existing species of shells, at the
height of 200 feet. In an admirable series of drawings by Captain
Moresby, I could see how continuously the cliff-bounded low plains of
this formation extended with a nearly equable height, both on the
eastern and western shores. The southern coast of Arabia seems to have
been subjected to the same elevatory movement, for Dr. Malcolmson found
at Sahar low cliffs containing shells and corals, apparently of recent
species.
The PERSIAN GULF abounds with coral-reefs; but as it is difficult to
distinguish them from sand-banks in this shallow sea, I have coloured
only some near the mouth; towards the head of the gulf Mr. Ainsworth
(Ainsworth’s “Assyria and Babylon,” page 217.) says that the land is
worn into terraces, and that the beds contain organic remains of
existing forms. The WEST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO of “fringed” islands, alone
remains to be mentioned; evidence of an elevation within a late
tertiary epoch of nearly the whole of this great area, may be found in
the works of almost all the naturalists who have visited it. I will
give some of the principal references in a note. (On Florida and the
north shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Rogers’ “Report to Brit. Assoc.”
volume iii., page 14.—On the shores of Mexico, Humboldt, “Polit. Essay
on New Spain,” volume i., page 62. (I have also some corroborative
facts with respect to the shores of Mexico.)—Honduras and the Antilles,
Lyell’s “Principles,” 5th edition, volume iv., page 22.—Santa Cruz and
Barbadoes, Prof. Hovey, “Silliman’s Journal”, volume xxxv., page
74.—St. Domingo, Courrojolles, “Journ de Phys.” tom. liv., page
106.—Bahamas, “United Service Journal”, No. lxxi., pages 218 and 224.
Jamaica, De la Beche, “Geol. Man.” page 142.—Cuba, Taylor in “Lond. and
Edin. Mag.” volume xi., page 17. Dr. Daubeny also, at a meeting of the
Geolog. Soc., orally described some very modern beds lying on the N.W.
parts of Cuba. I might have added many other less important
references.)
It is very remarkable on reviewing these details, to observe in how
many instances fringing-reefs round the shores, have coincided with the
existence on the land of upraised organic remains, which seem, from
evidence more or less satisfactory, to belong to a late tertiary
period. It may, however, be objected, that similar proofs of elevation,
perhaps, occur on the coasts coloured blue in our map: but this
certainly is not the case with the few following and doubtful
exceptions.
The entire area of the Red Sea appears to have been upraised within a
modern period; nevertheless I have been compelled (though on
unsatisfactory evidence, as given in the Appendix) to class the reefs
in the middle part, as barrier-reefs; should, however, the statements
prove accurate to the less height of the tertiary bed in this middle
part, compared with the northern and southern districts, we might well
suspect that it had subsided subsequently to the general elevation by
which the whole area has been upraised. Several authors (Ellis, in his
“Polynesian Researches,” was the first to call attention to these
remains (volume i., page 38), and the tradition of the natives
concerning them. See also Williams, “Nar. of Missionary Enterprise,”
page 21; also Tyerman and G. Bennett, “Journal of Voyage,” volume i.,
page 213; also Mr. Couthouy’s “Remarks,” page 51; but this principal
fact, namely, that there is a mass of upraised coral on the narrow
peninsula of Tiarubu, is from hearsay evidence; also Mr. Stutchbury,
“West of England Journal,” No. i., page 54. There is a passage in Von
Zach, “Corres. Astronom.” volume x., page 266, inferring an uprising at
Tahiti, from a footpath now used, which was formerly impassable; but I
particularly inquired from several native chiefs, whether they knew of
any change of this kind, and they were unanimous in giving me an answer
in the negative.) have stated that they have observed shells and corals
high up on the mountains of the Society Islands,—a group encircled by
barrier-reefs, and, therefore, supposed to have subsided: at Tahiti Mr.
Stutchbury found on the apex of one of the highest mountains, between
5,000 and 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, “a distinct and
regular stratum of semi-fossil coral.” At Tahiti, however, other
naturalists, as well as myself, have searched in vain at a low level
near the coast, for upraised shells or masses of coral-reef, where if
present they could hardly have been overlooked. From this fact, I
concluded that probably the organic remains strewed high up on the
surface of the land, had originally been embedded in the volcanic
strata, and had subsequently been washed out by the rain. I have since
heard from the Rev. W. Ellis, that the remains which he met with, were
(as he believes) interstratified with an argillaceous tuff; this
likewise was the case with the shells observed by the Rev. D. Tyerman
at Huaheine. These remains have not been specifically examined; they
may, therefore, and especially the stratum observed by Mr. Stutchbury
at an immense height, be contemporaneous with the first formation of
the Society Islands, and be of any degree of antiquity; or they may
have been deposited at some subsequent, but probably not very recent,
period of elevation; for if the period had been recent, the entire
surface of the coast land of these islands, where the reefs are so
extensive, would have been coated with upraised coral, which certainly
is not the case. Two of the Harvey, or Cook Islands, namely, Aitutaki
and Manouai, are encircled by reefs, which extend so far from the land,
that I have coloured them blue, although with much hesitation, as the
space within the reef is shallow, and the outline of the land is not
abrupt. These two islands consist of coral-rock; but I have no evidence
of their recent elevation, besides, the improbability of Mangaia, a
fringed island in the same group (but distant 170 miles), having
retained its nearly perfect atoll-like structure, during any immense
lapse of time after its upheaval. The Red Sea, therefore, is the only
area in which we have clear proofs of the recent elevation of a
district, which, by our theory (although the barrier-reefs are there
not well characterised), has lately subsided. But we have no reason to
be surprised at oscillation, of level of this kind having occasionally
taken place. There can be scarcely any doubt that Savage, Aurora
(Aurora Island is described by Mr. Couthouy (“Remarks,” page 58); it
lies 120 miles north-east of Tahiti; it is not coloured in the appended
map, because it does not appear to be fringed by living reefs. Mr.
Couthouy describes its summit as “presenting a broad table-land which
declines a few feet towards the centre, where we may suppose the lagoon
to have been placed.” It is about two hundred feet in height, and
consists of reef-rock and conglomerate, with existing species of coral
embedded in it. The island has been elevated at two successive periods;
the cliffs being marked halfway up with a horizontal water-worn line of
deep excavations. Aurora Island seems closely to resemble in structure
Elizabeth Island, at the southern end of the Low Archipelago.), and
Mangaia Islands, and several of the islands in the Friendly group,
existed originally as atolls, and these have undoubtedly since been
upraised to some height above the level of the sea; so that by our
theory, there has here, also, been an oscillation of level, —elevation
having succeeded subsidence, instead of, as in the middle part of the
Red Sea and at the Harvey Islands, subsidence having probably succeeded
recent elevation.
It is an interesting fact, that Fais, which, from its composition,
form, height, and situation at the western end of the Caroline
Archipelago, one is strongly induced to believe existed before its
upheaval as an atoll, lies exactly in the prolongation of the curved
line of the Mariana group, which we know to be a line of recent
elevation. I may add, that Elizabeth Island, in the southern part of
the Low Archipelago, which seems to have had the same kind of origin as
Fais, lies near Pitcairn Island, the only one in this part of the ocean
which is high, and at the same time not surrounded by an encircling
barrier-reef.
ON THE ABSENCE OF ACTIVE VOLCANOES IN THE AREAS OF SUBSIDENCE, AND ON
THEIR FREQUENT PRESENCE IN THE AREAS OF ELEVATION.
Before making some concluding remarks on the relations of the spaces
coloured blue and red, it will be convenient to consider the position
on our map of the volcanoes historically known to have been in action.
It is impossible not to be struck, first with the absence of volcanoes
in the great areas of subsidence tinted pale and dark blue,—namely, in
the central parts of the Indian Ocean, in the China Sea, in the sea
between the barriers of Australia and New Caledonia, in the Caroline,
Marshall, Gilbert, and Low Archipelagoes; and, secondly, with the
coincidence of the principal volcanic chains with the parts coloured
red, which indicates the presence of fringing-reefs; and, as we have
just seen, the presence in most cases of upraised organic remains of a
modern date. I may here remark that the reefs were all coloured before
the volcanoes were added to the map, or indeed before I knew of the
existence of several of them.
The volcano in Torres Strait, at the northern point of Australia, is
that which lies nearest to a large subsiding area, although situated
125 miles within the outer margin of the actual barrier-reef. The Great
Comoro Island, which probably contains a volcano, is only twenty miles
distant from the barrier-reef of Mohila; Ambil volcano, in the
Philippines, is distant only a little more than sixty miles from the
atoll-formed Appoo reef: and there are two other volcanoes in the map
within ninety miles of circles coloured blue. These few cases, which
thus offer partial exceptions to the rule, of volcanoes being placed
remote from the areas of subsidence, lie either near single and
isolated atolls, or near small groups of encircled islands; and these
by our theory can have, in few instances, subsided to the same amount
in depth or area, as groups of atolls. There is not one active volcano
within several hundred miles of an archipelago, or even a small group
of atolls. It is, therefore, a striking fact that in the Friendly
Archipelago, which owes its origin to the elevation of a group of
atolls, two volcanoes, and, perhaps, others are known to be in action:
on the other hand, on several of the encircled islands in the Pacific,
supposed by our theory to have subsided, there are old craters and
streams of lava, which show the effects of past and ancient eruptions.
In these cases, it would appear as if the volcanoes had come into
action, and had become extinguished on the same spots, according as the
elevating or subsiding movements prevailed.
There are some other coasts on the map, where volcanoes in a state of
action concur with proofs of recent elevation, besides those coloured
red from being fringed by coral-reefs. Thus I hope to show in a future
volume, that nearly the whole line of the west coast of South America,
which forms the greatest volcanic chain in the world, from near the
equator for a space of between 2,000 and 3,000 miles southward, has
undergone an upward movement during a late geological period. The
islands on the north-western shores of the Pacific, which form the
second greatest volcanic chain, are very imperfectly known; but Luzon,
in the Philippines, and the Loo Choo Islands, have been recently
elevated; and at Kamtschatka (At Sedanka, in latitude 58 deg N. (Von
Buch’s “Descrip. des Isles Canaries,” page 455). In a forthcoming part,
I shall give the evidence referred to with respect to the elevation of
New Zealand.) there are extensive tertiary beds of modern date.
Evidence of the same nature, but not very satisfactory, may be detected
in Northern New Zealand where there are two volcanoes. The co-existence
in other parts of the world of active volcanoes, with upraised beds of
a modern tertiary origin, will occur to every geologist. (During the
subterranean disturbances which took place in Chile, in 1835, I have
shown (“Geolog. Trans.” 2nd Ser., vol. v., page 606) that at the same
moment that a large district was upraised, volcanic matter burst forth
at widely separated points, through both new and old vents.)
Nevertheless, until it could be shown that volcanoes were inactive, or
did not exist in subsiding areas, the conclusion that their
distribution depended on the nature of the subterranean movements in
progress, would have been hazardous. But now, viewing the appended map,
it may, I think, be considered as almost established, that volcanoes
are often (not necessarily always) present in those areas where the
subterranean motive power has lately forced, or is now forcing
outwards, the crust of the earth, but that they are invariably absent
in those, where the surface has lately subsided or is still subsiding.
(We may infer from this rule, that in any old deposit, which contains
interstratified beds of erupted matter, there was at the period, and in
the area of its formation, a TENDENCY to an upward movement in the
earth’s surface, and certainly no movement of subsidence.)
ON THE RELATIONS OF THE AREAS OF SUBSIDENCE AND ELEVATION.
The immense surfaces on the map, which, both by our theory and by the
plain evidence of upraised marine remains, have undergone a change of
level either downwards or upwards during a late period, is a most
remarkable fact. The existence of continents shows that the areas have
been immense which at some period have been upraised; in South America
we may feel sure, and on the north-western shores of the Indian Ocean
we may suspect, that this rising is either now actually in progress, or
has taken place quite recently. By our theory, we may conclude that the
areas are likewise immense which have lately subsided, or, judging from
the earthquakes occasionally felt and from other appearances, are now
subsiding. The smallness of the scale of our map should not be
overlooked: each of the squares on it contains (not allowing for the
curvature of the earth) 810,000 square miles. Look at the space of
ocean from near the southern end of the Low Archipelago to the northern
end of the Marshall Archipelago, a length of 4,500 miles, in which, as
far as is known, every island, except Aurora which lies just without
the Low Archipelago, is atoll-formed. The eastern and western
boundaries of our map are continents, and they are rising areas: the
central spaces of the great Indian and Pacific Oceans, are mostly
subsiding; between them, north of Australia, lies the most broken land
on the globe, and there the rising parts are surrounded and penetrated
by areas of subsidence (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.), 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 remained 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 lines
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 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’ researches (“Researches in Physical Geology,”
Transact. Cambridge Phil. Soc., volume vi, part i.), 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
(For instance in S. America from latitude 34 deg, for very 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.) 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 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 literal 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 frameworks 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 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 basin 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 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 outburst, 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.
APPENDIX.
CONTAINING A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE REEFS AND ISLANDS IN 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
volcanoes historically known to have been in action, have been marked
with vermillion, 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 deg N., 109 deg W., has
lately been surveyed by Captain 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 eighty atolls: it will 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. Captain Beechey says of the thirty-two
groups which he examined (of the greater number of which I have seen
beautiful MS. charts in the Admiralty), that twenty-nine now contain
lagoons, and he believes the other three originally did. Bellinghausen
(see an account of his Russian voyage, in the “Biblioth. des Voyages,”
1834, page 443) says, that the seventeen islands which he discovered
resembled each other in structure, and he has given charts on a large
scale of all of them. Kotzebue has given plans of several; Cook and
Bligh mention others; a few were seen during the voyage of the
“Beagle”; and notices of other atolls are scattered through several
publications. The ACTAEON group in this archipelago has lately been
discovered (“Geographical Journal”, volume vii., page 454); it consists
of three small and low islets, one of which has a lagoon. Another
lagoon-island has been discovered (“Naut. Mag.” 1839, page 770), in 22
deg 4′ S., and 136 deg 20′ W. Towards the S.E. part of the group, there
are some islands of different formation: ELIZABETH Island is described
by Beechey (page 46, 4to edition) as fringed by reefs, at the distance
of between two and three hundred yards; coloured red. PITCAIRN Island,
in the immediate neighbourhood, according to the same authority, has no
reefs of any kind, although numerous pieces of coral are thrown up on
the beach; the sea close to its shore is very deep (see “Zool. of
Beechey’s Voyage,” page 164); it is left uncoloured. GAMBIER Islands
(see Plate I., Figure 8), are encircled by a barrier-reef; the greatest
depth within is thirty-eight fathoms; coloured pale blue. AURORA
Island, which lies N.E. of Tahiti close to the large space coloured
dark blue in the map, has been already described in a note (page 71),
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 Archipelago is separated by a narrow space from the Low
Archipelago; 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 half a mile to a mile and a half from the shore, with from ten to
thirty 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, page 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,” volume i., page 18, 12mo edition). Cook found deep water
(twenty fathoms) in some of the harbours within the reef. Mr. Couthouy,
however, states (“Remarks,” page 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 have thought they had formed a small
atoll, and likewise from the description given by the Rev. D. Tyerman
and G. Bennett (“Journal of Voyage and Travels,” volume i., page 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,” volume i., page 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 (volume i., page 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 four and a half 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 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
Archipelago, and almost forming part of it, namely BELLINGHAUSEN, which
is said by Kotzebue (“Second Voyage,” volume ii., page 255), to be a
lagoon-island; MOPEHA, which, from Cook’s description (“Second Voyage,”
book iii., chapter i.), no doubt is an atoll; and the SCILLY Islands,
which are said by Wallis (“Voyage,” chapter 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 Islands. Mr. F.D. Bennett has given some account
of this group, in the seventh volume of the “Geographical Journal”. 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 ISLAND.
PALMERSTON Island is minutely described as an atoll by Captain 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 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 Island. The highest point is about fifty
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 Island, as I am informed by Mr.
Williams, the reef is attached to the shore; coloured red. —MAUKI or
Maouti; the reef round this island (under the name of Parry Island, in
the “Voyage of H.M.S. ‘Blonde’,” page 209) is described as a
coral-flat, only fifty yards wide, and two feet under water. This
statement has been corroborated by Mr. Williams, who calls the reef
attached; coloured red.—AITU, 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 one hundred yards wide;
coloured red.—FENOUA-ITI; Cook describes this island as very low, not
more than six or seven feet high (volume i., book ii., chapter iii,
1777); in the chart published in the “‘Coquille’s’ Atlas,” a reef is
engraved close to the shore: this island is not mentioned in the list
given by Mr. Williams (page 16) in the “Narrative of Missionary
Enterprise;” nature doubtful. As it is so near Atiu, it has been
unavoidably coloured red.— RAROTONGA; Mr. Williams informs me that it
is a lofty basaltic island 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
Island, in the French chart, is written with small letters as being
low.—MANGAIA; height about three hundred feet; “the surrounding reef
joins the shore” (Williams, “Narrative,” page 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 island is about three hundred feet high (“Naut. Mag.” 1839,
page 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 islands by a reef; he must have meant a distant
reef.—TOUBOUAI; in Cook’s chart (“Second Voyage,” volume ii., page 2)
the reef is laid down in part one mile, and in part two miles from the
shore. Mr. Ellis (“Polynes. Res.” volume iii., page 381) says the low
land round the base of the island 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 island; 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 (page 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 island, of which I
cannot find any account.—KEMIN Island; Krusenstern seems hardly to know
its position, and gives no further particulars.
ISLANDS BETWEEN THE LOW AND GILBERT ARCHIPELAGOES.
CAROLINE Island (10 deg S., 150 deg W.) is described by Mr. F.D.
Bennett (“Geographical Journal”, volume vii., page 225) as containing a
fine lagoon; coloured blue.—FLINT Island (11 deg S., 151 deg W.);
Krusenstern believes that it is the same with Peregrino, which is
described by Quiros (Burney’s “Chron. Hist.” volume ii., page 283) as
“a cluster of small islands connected by a reef, and forming a lagoon
in the middle;” coloured blue.—WOSTOCK is an island 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
Island, 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 Island (9 deg S.,
158 deg W.); a plan of it in the “Atlas of the First Voyage” of
Kotzebue, shows that it is an atoll; blue.— SLARBUCK Island (5 deg S.,
156 deg W.) is described in Byron’s “Voyage in the ‘Blonde’” (page 206)
as formed of a flat coral-rock, with no trees; the height not given;
not coloured.—MALDEN Island (4 deg S., 154 deg W.); in the same voyage
(page 205) this island is said to be of coral formation, and no part
above forty 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 Island (0 deg 20′ S., 160 deg W.) is
described by Mr. F.D. Bennett (“Geographical Journal”, volume vii.,
page 227) as a narrow, low strip of coral-formation; not
coloured.—BROOK, is a small low island 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 deg W.); an
atoll, of which a plan is given by Bellinghausen; blue.— SOUVOROFF
Islands (13 deg S., 163 deg 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 Archipelago) formed a
single atoll; but I have not coloured them.—DANGER Island (10 deg S.,
166 deg W.); described as low by Commodore Byron, and more lately
surveyed by Bellinghausen; it is a small atoll with three islets on it;
blue.—CLARENCE Island (9 deg S., 172 deg W.); discovered in the
“Pandora” (G. Hamilton’s “Voyage,” page 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 Island (8 deg S., 172 deg W.) is
described by Commodore Byron (chapter x. of his “Voyage”) as an atoll;
blue.—SYDNEY Island (4 deg S., 172 deg W.) is about three miles in
diameter, with its interior occupied by a lagoon (Captain Tromelin,
“Annal. Marit.” 1829, page 297); blue.—PHOENIX Island (4 deg S., 171
deg W.) is nearly circular, low, sandy, not more than two miles in
diameter, and very steep outside (Tromelin, “Annal. Marit.” 1829, page
297); it may be inferred that this island originally contained a
lagoon, but I have not coloured it.—NEW NANTUCKET (0 deg 15′ N., 174
deg W.). From the French chart it must be a low island; I can find
nothing more about it or about MARY Island; both uncoloured.—GARDNER
Island (5 deg S., 174 deg W.) from its position is certainly the same
as KEMIN Island described (Krusenstern, page 435, Appen. to Mem.,
published 1827) as having a lagoon in its centre; blue.
ISLANDS SOUTH OF THE SANDWICH ARCHIPELAGO.
CHRISTMAS Island (2 deg N., 157 deg W.). Captain Cook, in his “Third
Voyage” (Volume ii., chapter 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 (“Geographical
Journal,” volume vii., page 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 island, in D’Urville and
Lottin’s chart. Mr. Couthouy, also, has given some account of it
(“Remarks,” page 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 Island (4 deg N.,
158 deg W.) according to Captain Tromelin (“Ann. Maritim.” 1829, page
283), is an atoll: his account as observed by Krusenstern, differs from
that given in Fanning’s “Voyage” (page 224), which, however, is far
from clear; coloured blue.— WASHINGTON Island (4 deg N., 159 deg W.) is
engraved as a low island in D’Urville’s chart, but is described by
Fanning (page 226) as having a much greater elevation than Fanning
Island, and hence I presume it is not an atoll; not coloured.—PALMYRA
Island (6 deg N., 162 deg W.) is an atoll divided into two parts
(Krusenstern’s “Mem. Suppl.” page 50, also Fanning’s “Voyage,” page
233); blue.—SMYTH’S or Johnston’s Islands (17 deg N., 170 deg W.).
Captain 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. Captain Smyth does not recollect whether these
islets, together with the reef, surrounded a lagoon; uncoloured.
SANDWICH ARCHIPELAGO.
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 island 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 that 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 latitude 28 deg 22′,
longitude 178 deg 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, the deepest part which was surveyed was only three
fathoms. Mr. Couthouy (“Remarks,” page 38) describes this island under
the name of OCEAN island. 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 (page 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 (page
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,” page 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 deg S., 167 deg W., is described in the “Naut. Mag.”
(May 1833, page 442) as ten miles long in a N. and 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 Island, 19 deg S., 170 deg W., has been described by Cook and
Forster. The younger Forster (volume ii., page 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 ARCHIPELAGO.
PYLSTAART Island. 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 Captain 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,” page 14) classes it with
high islands having reefs, but it certainly is not encircled by a
barrier-reef and the younger Forster (“Voyage,” volume i., page 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, etc., are seen in
Captain Cook’s chart to be fringed by reefs, in several of them are
connected together. From the various statements in the first volume of
Cook’s “Third Voyage,” and especially in the fourth and sixth chapters,
it appears that these reefs are of coral-formation, and certainly do
not belong to the barrier class; coloured red.—TOUFOA AND 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 deg S., 174 deg W., or KEPPEL Island of Wallis, or COCOS
Island. From a view and chart of this island given in Wallis’s “Voyage”
(4to edition) 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 deg S., 176 deg W., a chart and view of this island
in Wallis’s “Voyage” (4to edition) shows that it is encircled. A view
of it in the “Naut. Mag.” July 1833, page 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 ninety 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 Captain D’Urville believes that ships could
anchor within, if passages existed through the outer barriers. The
Chevallier 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 (“Second Voyage,” volume ii., page 23, and chart, 4to edition)
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, Captain Cook (Ibid., page 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 similar to the one
just described in the words of Captain Cook; coloured dark blue.
ROTOUMAH, 13 deg S., 179 deg E.—From the chart in Duperrey’s “Atlas,” I
thought this island was encircled, and had coloured it blue, but the
Chevallier Dillon assures me that the reef is only a shore or fringing
one; red.
INDEPENDENCE Island, 10 deg S., 179 deg E., is described by Mr. G.
Bennett, (“United Service Journal,” 1831, part ii., page 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 Islands are figured in Arrowsmith’s “Chart
of the Pacific” (corrected to 1832) as atolls, and are said to be very
low; blue.—NEDERLANDISCH Island. I am greatly indebted to the kindness
of Admiral Krusenstern, for sending me the original documents
concerning this island. From the plans given by Captains 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. Captain 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
eighty feet 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 ‘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 characterised
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 characterised 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 (“Geographical Journal”, volume vii.,
page 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 masthead reported an appearance of lagoon-water in the centre; and,
therefore, considering its position, I have coloured it blue. —PITT
Island, at the extreme northern point of the group, is left uncoloured,
as its exact position and nature is not known.—BYRON Island, 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
eighteen miles; it is said to be low; uncoloured.
OCEAN, PLEASANT, and ATLANTIC Islands 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
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 twenty-three large and well-characterised atolls,
from the examination of which Chamisso has given us his well-known
account of coral-formations. I include GASPAR RICO, or CORNWALLIS
Island in this group, which is described by Chamisso (Kotzebue’s “First
Voyage,” volume iii., page 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 Island, of which little is known (see
Krusenstern’s “Appendix,” 1835, page 149). I have left it uncoloured;
but BOSTON Island I have coloured blue, as it is described (Ibid.) as
consisting of fourteen small islands, which, no doubt, enclose 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, 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, some way south of
the group (of which a plan is given in the “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 woodcut given in the
“United Service Journal” (1831, part iii., page 190), accompanying a
paper by Mr. Bennett, it appears that the shore is fringed; coloured
red.—TANNA. Forster, in his “Observations” (page 22), says Tanna has on
its shores coral-rock and madrepores; and the younger Forster, in his
account (volume ii., page 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 Journal,” 1831, part
iii., page 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,”
page 14), to have been a low island or even an atoll.— ERROMANGO
Island; Cook (“Second Voyage,” volume ii., page 45, 4to edition) speaks
of rocks everywhere 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
Island. The east coast is said (Cook’s “Second Voyage,” volume ii.,
page 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 (“Observations,” page 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 Islands, according to Bougainville, apparently have no reefs;
nor has the large island of S. ESPIRITU, nor BLIGH Island or BANKS’
Islands, 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 (Figure 1, Plate 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 island,
surrounded by cliffs (“‘Astrolabe’ Hydrog.” and Krusenstern, “Mem.”
volume ii., page 432); these are uncoloured. TOUPOUA (OTOOBOA of
Dillon) is stated by Captain Tromelin (“Annales Marit.” 1829, page 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 bays, offers no anchorage from the
extreme depth of the water close to the shore: Captain Dillon also
speaks of the reefs fronting this island; coloured blue.— SANTA-CRUZ. I
have carefully examined the works of Carteret, D’Entrecasteaux, Wilson,
and Tromelin, and I cannot discover any mention of reefs on its shores;
left uncoloured.—TINAKORO is a constantly active volcano without
reefs.—MENDANA ISLES (mentioned by Dillon under the name of MAMMEE,
etc.); said by Krusenstern to be low, and intertwined with reefs. I do
not believe they include a lagoon; I have left them uncoloured.—DUFF’S
Islands compose a small group directed in a N.W. and S.E. band; they
are described by Wilson (page 296, “Miss. Voy.” 4to edition), as formed
by bold-peaked land, with the islands surrounded by coral-reefs,
extending about half a mile from the shore; at a distance of a mile
from the reefs he found only seven fathoms. As I have no reason for
supposing there is deep water within these reefs, I have coloured them
red. KENNEDY Island, N.E. of Duff’s. I have been unable to find any
account of it.
NEW CALEDONIA.
The great barrier-reefs on the shores of this island have already been
described (Figure 5, Plate II.). They have been visited by
Labillardiere, Cook, and the northern point by D’Urville; this latter
part so closely resembles an atoll that I have coloured it dark blue.
The LOYALTY group is situated eastward of this island; from the chart
and description given in the “Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’,” they do not
appear to have any reefs; north of this group, there are some extensive
low reefs (called ASTROLABE and BEAUPRE,) which do not seem to 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 D’Entrecasteaux 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 Islands, 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 Archipelago, 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 the WELLS
reef, described in G. Hamilton’s “Voyage in H.M.S. ‘Pandora’” (page
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.
SOLOMON 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, is a presumption that
they are fringed. I cannot find out anything from D’Entrecasteaux’s
“Voyage,” regarding the southern islands of the group, so have left
them uncoloured.—MALAYTA Island in a rough MS. chart in the Admiralty
has its northern shore fringed.—YSABEL Island, the N.E. part of this
island, in the same chart, is also fringed: Mendana, speaking (Burney,
volume i., page 280) of an islet adjoining the northern coast, says it
is surrounded by reefs; the shores, also of Port Praslin appear
regularly fringed.—CHOISEUL Island. In Bougainville’s “Chart of
Choiseul Bay,” parts of the shores are fringed by coral-reefs.—
BOUGAINVILLE Island. According to D’Entrecasteaux 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 Islands. Captain 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 Solomon Archipelago 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 Chevallier Dillon, however, informs me that this is not
the case with the B. de CANDELARIA.—OUTONG JAVA, according to the
Spanish navigator, Maurelle, is thus characterised; but this is the
only one which I have ventured to colour blue.
NEW IRELAND.
The shores of the S.W. point of this island and some adjoining islets,
are fringed by reefs, as may be seen in the “Atlases of the Voyages of
the ‘Coquille’ and ‘Astrolabe’.” M. Lesson observes that the reefs are
open in front of each streamlet. The DUKE OF YORK’S Island is also
fringed; but with regard to the other parts of NEW IRELAND, NEW
HANOVER, and the small islands lying northward, I have been unable to
obtain any information. I will only add that no part of New Ireland
appears to be fronted by distant reefs. I have coloured red only the
above specified portions.
NEW BRITAIN AND THE NORTHERN SHORE OF NEW GUINEA.
From the charts in the “Voyage of the ‘Astrolabe’,” and from the
“Hydrog. Memoir,” it appears that these coasts are entirely without
reefs, as are the SCHOUTEN Islands, lying close to the northern shore
of New Guinea. The western and south-western parts of New Guinea, will
be treated of when we come to the islands of the East Indian
Archipelago.
ADMIRALTY GROUP.
From the accounts by Bougainville, Maurelle, D’Entrecasteaux, and the
scattered notices collected by Horsburgh, it appears, that some of the
many islands composing it, are high, with a bold outline; and others
are very low, small and interlaced with reefs. All the high islands
appear to be fronted by distant reefs rising abruptly from the sea, and
within some of which there is reason to believe that the water is deep.
I have therefore little doubt they are of the barrier class.—In the
southern part of the group we have ELIZABETH Island, which is
surrounded by a reef at the distance of a mile; and two miles eastward
of it (Krusenstern, “Append.” 1835, page 42) there is a little island
containing a lagoon.—Near here, also lies CIRCULAR-REEF (Horsburgh,
“Direct.” volume i., page 691, 4th edition), “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 Island,
which is described by Carteret as low.
The CAROLINE ARCHIPELAGO 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
Figures 2 and 7, Plate I. Commencing with the eastern part; the
encircling reef round UALEN appears to be only about half a mile from
the shore; but as the land is low and covered with mangroves (“Voyage
autour du Monde,” par F. Lutke, volume i., page 339), the real margin
has not probably been ascertained. The extreme depth in one of the
harbours within the reef is thirty-three fathoms (see charts in “Atlas
of ‘Coquille’s’ Voyage”), and outside at half a mile distant from the
reef, no bottom was obtained with two hundred and fifty 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 thirty fathoms, and in another, twenty-eight, beyond which, to all
appearance, there was “un porte vaste et sur” (Lutke, volume ii., page
4); coloured pale blue.—HOGOLEU or ROUG. This wonderful group contains
at least sixty-two islands, and its reef is one hundred and thirty-five
miles in circuit. Of the islands, only a few, about six or eight (see
“Hydrog. Descrip.” page 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 Captain
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 islands, 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 (In D’Urville and Lottin’s chart,
Peserare is written with capital letters; but this evidently is an
error, for it is one of the low islets on the reef of Namonouyto (see
Lutke’s charts)—a regular atoll.) 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 Captain 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 (volume ii., page 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 (volume ii., page 107, regarding Bigali) and of Freycinet
(“Hydrog. Memoir ‘L’Uranie’ Voyage,” page 188, regarding Tamatam,
Ollap, etc.), it will be seen that the artist must have represented the
land incorrectly. The most southern island in the group, namely
PIGUIRAM, is not coloured, because I have found no account of it.
NOUGOUOR, or MONTE VERDISON, which was not visited by Lutke, is
described and figured by Mr. Bennett (“United Service Journal,” January
1832) as an atoll. All the above-mentioned islands have been coloured
blue.
WESTERN PART OF THE CAROLINE ARCHIPELAGO.
FAIS Island is ninety feet high, and is surrounded, as I have been
informed by Admiral Lutke, by a narrow reef of living coral, of which
the broadest part, as represented in the charts, is only 150 yards;
coloured red.— PHILIP Island., I believe, is low; but Hunter, in his
“Historical Journal,” gives no clear account of it; uncoloured.—ELIVI;
from the manner in which the islets on the reefs are engraved, in the
“Atlas of the ‘Astrolabe’s’ Voyage,” I should have thought they were
above the ordinary height, but Admiral Lutke assures me this is not the
case: they form a regular atoll; coloured blue.—GOUAP (EAP of
Chamisso), is a high island with a reef (see chart in “Voyage of the
‘Astrolabe’”), more than a mile distant in most parts from the shore,
and two miles in one part. Captain D’Urville thinks that there would be
anchorage (“Hydrog. Descript. ‘Astrolabe’ Voyage,” page 436) for ships
within the reef, if a passage could be found; coloured pale
blue.—GOULOU, from the chart in the “‘Astrolabe’s’ Atlas,” appears to
be an atoll. D’Urville (“Hydrog. Descript.” page 437) speaks of the low
islets on the reef; coloured dark blue.
PELEW ISLANDS.
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 Lieutenant 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 Lieutenant Elmer’s chart there is a horseshoe-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” (page 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 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, page 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 Islands
which lie some way east of the Marianas, I can find out nothing,
excepting that they are probably low. Krusenstern says this of Marshall
Island; and Folger Island is written with small letters in D’Urville’s
chart; uncoloured.
BONIN OR ARZOBISPO GROUP.
PEEL Island has been examined by Captain 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.”
Captain 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
Island red.—GRAMPUS Island to the eastward, does not appear (Meare’s
“Voyage,” page 95) to have any reefs, nor does ROSARIO Island (from
Lutke’s chart), which lies to the westward. Respecting the few other
islands in this part of the sea, namely the SULPHUR Islands, 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 shores of these
islands is seen in the charts (on a large scale) in Freycinet’s “Atlas”
to be fringed by coral-reefs. Forrest (page 21, “Voyage to New Guinea”)
alludes to the coral-reefs lining the heads of Piapis Bay; and
Horsburgh (volume ii., page 599, 4th edition), 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 edition of
Carteret’s “Voyage,” must be an atoll. Krusenstern says the islets are
very low; coloured blue.—CARTERET’S SHOALS, in 2 deg 53′ N., are
described as circular, with stony points showing 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 that 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
Captain Kolff, the MS. translation of which, by Mr. W. Earl, I have
been permitted to read, through the kindness of Captain 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 belong. 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,” page 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
(volume ii., page 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 have been coloured red, although the evidence
is not very satisfactory.—North of Bourou the parallel line of the
XULLA Isles extends: I have not been able to find out anything about
them, excepting that Horsburgh (volume ii., page 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,” page 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” (volume xii., page 156),
“Sur les cotes (of Batchian) comme DANS LES PLUPART des iles de cet
archipel, il y a de rocs de medrepores d’une beaute et d’une variete
infimies.” Forrest, also (page 50), says Seland, near Batchian, is a
little island with reefs of coral; coloured red.—MORTY Island (north of
Gilolo). Horsburgh (volume ii., page 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 parts 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
(“‘Astrol.’ Voyage,” Hydrog. Part, pages 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,” page 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 (volume ii., page 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 Captain 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 to 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 Island has,
according to Horsburgh (volume ii., page 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 Captain King’s Sailing Directions (“Narrative of
Survey,” volume ii, pages 325-369), 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 (latitude 28 deg S. on west coast)
have lately been surveyed by Captain Wickham (as described in “Naut.
Mag.” 1841, page 511): they lie on the edge of a steeply shelving bank,
which extends about thirty 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 five to fifteen fathoms, and in one
spot with twenty-three fathoms. The greater part of the island has been
formed on their inland sides, by the accumulation of fragments of
coral; the seaward face consisting of nearly bare ledges of rock. Some
of the specimens, brought home by Captain 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 thirty
fathoms, I have not ventured to class them with atolls, and hence have
left them uncoloured.—ROWLEY SHOALS. These lie some way from the N.W.
coast of Australia: according to Captain King (“Narrative of Survey,”
volume i., page 60), they are of coral-formation. They rise abruptly
from the sea, and Captain King had no bottom with 170 fathoms close to
them. Three of them are crescent-shaped; they are mentioned by Mr.
Lyell, on the authority of Captain King, with reference to the
direction of their open sides. “A third oval reef of the same group is
entirely submerged” (“Principles of Geology,” book iii. chapter
xviii.); coloured blue.—SCOTT’S REEFS, lying north of Rowley Shoals,
are briefly described by Captain Wickham (“Naut. Mag.” 1841, page 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 (volume ii.,
page 602) that a coral-flat bounds the shores of SAPY Bay. From the
same authority it appears (page 610) that reefs fringe the island of
TIMOR-YOUNG, on the N. shore of Sumbawa; and, likewise (page 600), that
BALLY town in LOMBOCK, is fronted by a reef, stretching along the shore
at a distance of a hundred fathoms, with channels through it for boats;
these places, therefore, have been coloured red.—BALLY Island. 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, volume ii., page 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 MADUARA 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 thirty and forty fathoms round these islands.
Parts of the shores of SUNDA STRAIT, where the water is from forty to
eighty 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 STRAIT.
The EAST COAST OF Borneo appears, in most parts, free from reefs, and
where they occur, as on the east coast of PAMAROONG, the sea is very
shallow; hence no part is coloured. In MACASSAR Strait itself, in about
latitude 2 deg 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 not appear to have a lagoon-like structure. There are
similar coral-shoals a little farther south; and in latitude 4 deg 55′
there are two, which are engraved from modern surveys, in a manner
which might represent an annular reef with deep water inside: Captain
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 Archipelago. 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, etc., 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 Island 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, volume ii., page 115); coloured red.—RAT Island (3 deg
51′ S.) is surrounded by reefs of coral, partly dry at low water,
(Horsburgh, volume ii., page 96).—TRIESTE Island (4 deg 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,” volume i., page 474), I have not coloured
it.—PULO DOOA (latitude 3 deg). 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 (volume ii., page 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, volume ii., page 107).—PULO BANIAK; the same
authority (volume ii., page 105), speaking of a part, says it is faced
with coral-rocks.—MINGUIN (3 deg 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, page 105).—PULO BRASSA (5
deg 46′ N.). A reef surrounds it at a cable’s length (Horsburgh, volume
ii., page 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 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, Captain Moresby informs me, that it is
fringed by reefs of coral, extending between two and three hundred
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 Captain 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” (volume
iv., page 402) led me to doubt the existence of reefs; uncoloured.
The coast of MALACCA, TENASSERIM 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 forty to fifty fathoms, I have coloured red some of
the groups, which are regularly fringed. The northern NATUNAS and the
ANAMBAS Islands 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 Islands (1 deg N.) are represented in the English charts as
surrounded by a very regular fringe.— ST. BARBES (0 deg 15′ N.) is said
by Horsburgh (volume ii., page 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,
volume ii., page 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 Strait, 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
authorised 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.” page 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,” page 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-reefs; the breakers round the latter (Horsburgh, volume
ii., page 513) extend five or six miles from a sandbank, 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.
PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO.
A chart on a large scale of APPOO SHOAL, which lies near the S.E. coast
of Mindoro, has been executed by Captain 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 Island is said, by Horsburgh (volume ii., page 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, volume ii., page 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 Mansinglor. In the neighbourhood of
Solon-solon Bay, the shore is lined (Horsburgh ii., page 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 little 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 Island is surrounded (according to Forrest,
“Voyage,” page 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 (volume ii., page 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, page 443); about a mile off shore there is between thirty
and thirty-five 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 (volume ii., page 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, volume ii., page 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 Captain Broughton (“Voy. to the
N. Pacific,” page 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 (page 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 Captain B. Hall’s voyage to Loo
Choo (see also remarks in Appendix, pages 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. Captain 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 (volume i.,
page 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,
volume ii., page 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 (latitude 20 deg N.) which, according to Horsburgh (volume ii.,
page 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 appear to be several parts where a ship might find
anchorage outside the breakers;” coloured blue.—The PARACELLS have been
accurately surveyed by Captain 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, etc.) 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, volume ii., page 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, volume ii., page 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 (volume ii., page 431)
“is formed, LIKE MOST of the shoals hereabouts, of a belt of
coral-rocks, “with a basin of deep water within.”—HALF-MOON SHOAL has a
similar structure; Captain 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, volume ii., page 432)
“to be a basin of smooth water surrounded by breakers.” These three
shoals I have coloured blue.—The PARAQUAS SHOALS are of a circular
form, with deep gaps running through them; not coloured.—A bank
gradually shoaling to the depth of thirty fathoms, extends to a
distance of about twenty miles from the northern part of BORNEO, and to
thirty miles from the northern part of PALAWAN. Near the land this bank
appears tolerably free from danger, but a little further out it is
thickly studded with coral-shoals, which do not generally rise quite to
the surface; some of them are very steep-to, and others have a fringe
of shoal-water round them. I should have thought that these shoals had
level surfaces, had it not been for the statement made by Horsburgh
“that most of the shoals hereabouts are formed of a belt of coral.”
But, perhaps that expression was more particularly applied to the
shoals further in the offing. If these reefs of coral have a
lagoon-like structure, they should have been coloured blue, and they
would have formed an imperfect barrier in front of Palawan and the
northern part of Borneo. But, as the water is not very deep, these
reefs may have grown up from inequalities on the bank: I have not
coloured them.—The coast of CHINA, TONQUIN, and COCHIN-CHINA, forming
the western boundary of the China Sea, appear to be without reefs: with
regard to the two last-mentioned coasts, I speak after examining the
charts on a large scale in the “Atlas of the Voyage of the
‘Favourite’.”
INDIAN OCEAN.
SOUTH KEELING atoll has been specially described. Nine miles north of
it lies North Keeling, a very small atoll, surveyed by the “Beagle,”
the lagoon of which is dry at low water.—CHRISTMAS Island, lying to the
east, is a high island, without, as I have been informed by a person
who passed it, any reefs at all.—CEYLON: a space about eighty miles in
length of the south-western and southern shores of these islands has
been described by Mr. Twynam (“Naut. Mag.” 1836, pages 365 and 518);
parts of this space appear to be very regularly fringed by coral-reefs,
which extend from a quarter to half a mile from the shore. These reefs
are in places breached, and afford safe anchorage for the small trading
craft. Outside, the sea gradually deepens; there is forty fathoms about
six miles off shore: this part I have coloured red. In the published
charts of Ceylon there appear to be fringing-reefs in several parts of
the south-eastern shores, which I have also coloured red.—At Venloos
Bay the shore is likewise fringed. North of Trincomalee there are also
reefs of the same kind. The sea off the northern part of Ceylon is
exceedingly shallow; and therefore I have not coloured the reefs which
fringe portions of its shores, and the adjoining islets, as well as the
Indian promontory of MADURA.
CHAGOS, MALDIVA, AND LACCADIVE ARCHIPELAGOES.
These three great groups which have already been often noticed, are now
well-known from the admirable surveys of Captain Moresby and Lieutenant
Powell. The published charts, which are worthy of the most attentive
examination, at once show that the CHAGOS and MALDIVA groups are
entirely formed of great atolls, or lagoon-formed reefs, surmounted by
islets. In the LACCADIVE group, this structure is less evident; the
islets are low, not exceeding the usual height of coral-formations (see
Lieutenant Wood’s account, “Geographical Journal”, volume vi., page
29), and most of the reefs are circular, as may be seen in the
published charts; and within several of them, as I am informed by
Captain Moresby, there is deepish water; these, therefore, have been
coloured blue. Directly north, and almost forming part of this group,
there is a long, narrow, slightly curved bank, rising out of the depths
of the ocean, composed of sand, shells, and decayed coral, with from
twenty-three to thirty fathoms on it. I have no doubt that it has had
the same origin with the other Laccadive banks; but as it does not
deepen towards the centre I have not coloured it. I might have referred
to other authorities regarding these three archipelagoes; but after the
publication of the charts by Captain Moresby, to whose personal
kindness in giving me much information I am exceedingly indebted, it
would have been superfluous.
SAHIA DE MALHA bank consists of a series of narrow banks, with from
eight to sixteen fathoms on them; they are arranged in a semicircular
manner, round a space about forty fathoms deep, which slopes on the
S.E. quarter to unfathomable depths; they are steep-to on both sides,
but more especially on the ocean-side. Hence this bank closely
resembles in structure, and I may add from Captain Moresby’s
information in composition, the Pitt’s Bank in the Chagos group; and
the Pitt’s Bank, must, after what has been shown of the Great Chagos
Bank, be considered as a sunken, half-destroyed atoll; hence coloured
blue.—CARGADOS CARAJOS BANK. Its southern portion consists of a large,
curved, coral-shoal, with some low islets on its eastern edge, and
likewise some on the western side, between which there is a depth of
about twelve fathoms. Northward, a great bank extends. I cannot
(probably owing to the want of perfect charts) refer this reef and bank
to any class;—therefore not coloured.—ILE DE SABLE is a little island,
lying west of C. Carajos, only some toises in height (“Voyage of the
‘Favourite’,” volume i., page 130); it is surrounded by reefs; but its
structure is unintelligible to me. There are some small banks north of
it, of which I can find no clear account.—MAURITIUS. The reefs round
this island have been described in the chapter on fringing-reefs;
coloured red. —RODRIGUEZ. The coral-reefs here are exceedingly
extensive; in one part they project even five miles from the shore. As
far as I can make out, there is no deep-water moat within them; and the
sea outside does not deepen very suddenly. The outline, however, of the
land appears to be (“Life of Sir J. Makintosh,” volume ii., page 165)
hilly and rugged. I am unable to decide whether these reefs belong to
the barrier class; as seems probable from their great extension, or to
the fringing class; uncoloured. —BOURBON. The greater part of the
shores of this island are without reefs; but Captain Carmichael
(Hooker’s “Bot. Misc.”) states that a portion, fifteen miles in length,
on the S.E. side, is imperfectly fringed with coral reefs: I have not
thought this sufficient to colour the island.
SEYCHELLES.
The rocky islands of primary formation, composing this group, rise from
a very extensive and tolerably level bank, having a depth between
twenty and forty fathoms. In Captain Owen’s chart, and in that in the
“Atlas of the Voyage of the ‘Favourite’,” it appears that the east side
of MAHE and the adjoining islands of ST. ANNE and CERF, are regularly
fringed by coral-reefs. A portion of the S.E. part of CURIEUSE Island,
the N., and part of the S.W. shore of PRASLIN Island, and the whole
west side of DIGUE Island, appear fringed. From a MS. account of these
islands by Captain F. Moresby, in the Admiralty, it appears that
SILHOUETTE is also fringed; he states that all these islands are formed
of granite and quartz, that they rise abruptly from the sea, and that
“coral-reefs have grown round them, and project for some distance.” Dr.
Allan, of Forres, who visited these islands, informs me that there is
no deep water between the reefs and the shore. The above specified
points have been coloured red. AMIRANTES Islands: The small islands of
this neighbouring group, according to the MS. account of them by
Captain F. Moresby, are situated on an extensive bank; they consist of
the debris of corals and shells; are only about twenty feet in height,
and are environed by reefs, some attached to the shore, and some rather
distant from it.—I have taken great pains to procure plans and
information regarding the several islands lying between S.E. and S.W.
of the Amirantes, and the Seychelles; relying chiefly on Captain F.
Moresby and Dr. Allan, it appears that the greater number,
namely—PLATTE, ALPHONSE, COETIVI, GALEGA, PROVIDENCE, ST. PIERRE,
ASTOVA, ASSOMPTION, and GLORIOSO, are low, formed of sand or
coral-rock, and irregularly shaped; they are situated on very extensive
banks, and are connected with great coral-reefs. Galega is said by Dr.
Allan, to be rather higher than the other islands; and St. Pierre is
described by Captain F. Moresby, as being cavernous throughout, and as
not consisting of either limestone or granite. These islands, as well
as the Amirantes, certainly are not atoll-formed, and they differ as a
group from every other group with which I am acquainted; I have not
coloured them; but probably the reefs belong to the fringing class.
Their formation is attributed, both by Dr. Allan and Captain F.
Moresby, to the action of the currents, here exceedingly violent, on
banks, which no doubt have had an independent geological origin. They
resemble in many respects some islands and banks in the West Indies,
which owe their origin to a similar agency, in conjunction with an
elevation of the entire area. In close vicinity to the several islands,
there are three others of an apparently different nature: first, JUAN
DE NOVA, which appears from some plans and accounts to be an atoll; but
from others does not appear to be so; not coloured. Secondly COSMOLEDO;
“this group consists of a ring of coral, ten leagues in circumference,
and a quarter of a mile broad in some places, enclosing a magnificent
lagoon, into which there did not appear a single opening” (Horsburgh,
volume i., page 151); coloured blue. Thirdly, ALDABRA; it consists of
three islets, about twenty-five feet in height, with red cliffs
(Horsburgh, volume i., page 176) surrounding a very shallow basin or
lagoon. The sea is profoundly deep close to the shore. Viewing this
island in a chart, it would be thought an atoll; but the foregoing
description shows that there is something different in its nature; Dr.
Allan also states that it is cavernous, and that the coral-rock has a
vitrified appearance. Is it an upheaved atoll, or the crater of a
volcano?—uncoloured.
COMORO GROUP.
MAYOTTA, according to Horsburgh (volume i., page 216, 4th edition), is
completely surrounded by a reef, which runs at the distance of three,
four, and in some places even five miles from the land; in an old
chart, published by Dalrymple, a depth in many places of thirty-six and
thirty-eight fathoms is laid down within the reef. In the same chart,
the space of open water within the reef in some parts is even more than
three miles wide: the land is bold and peaked; this island, therefore,
is encircled by a well-characterised barrier-reef, and is coloured pale
blue.—JOHANNA; Horsburgh says (volume I. page 217) this island from the
N.W. to the S.W. point, is bounded by a reef, at the distance of two
miles from the shore; in some parts, however, the reef must be
attached, since Lieutenant Boteler (“Narr.” volume i., page 161)
describes a passage through it, within which there is room only for a
few boats. Its height, as I am informed by Dr. Allan, is about 3,500
feet; it is very precipitous, and is composed of granite, greenstone,
and quartz; coloured blue.—MOHILLA; on the S. side of this island there
is anchorage, in from thirty to forty-five fathoms, between a reef and
the shore (Horsburgh, volume i., page 214); in Captain Owen’s chart of
Madagascar, this island is represented as encircled; coloured
blue.—GREAT COMORO Island is, as I am informed by Dr. Allan, about
8,000 feet high, and apparently volcanic; it is not regularly
encircled; but reefs of various shapes and dimensions, jut out from
every headland on the W., S., and S.E. coasts, inside of which reefs
there are channels, often parallel with the shore, with deep water. On
the north-western coasts the reefs appear attached to the shores. The
land near the coast is in some places bold, but generally speaking it
is flat; Horsburgh says (volume i., page 214) the water is profoundly
deep close to the SHORE, from which expression I presume some parts are
without reefs. From this description I apprehend the reef belongs to
the barrier class; but I have not coloured it, as most of the charts
which I have seen, represent the reefs round it as very much less
extensive than round the other islands in the group.
MADAGASCAR.
My information is chiefly derived from the published charts by Captain
Owen, and the accounts given by him and by Lieutenant Boteler.
Commencing at the S.W. extremity of the island; towards the northern
part of the STAR BANK (in latitude 25 deg S.) the coast for ten miles
is fringed by a reef; coloured red. The shore immediately S. of ST.
AUGUSTINE’S BAY appears fringed; but TULLEAR Harbour, directly N. of
it, is formed by a narrow reef ten miles long, extending parallel to
the shore, with from four to ten fathoms within it. If this reef had
been more extensive, it must have been classed as a barrier-reef; but
as the line of coast falls inwards here, a submarine bank perhaps
extends parallel to the shore, which has offered a foundation for the
growth of the coral; I have left this part uncoloured. From latitude 22
deg 16′ to 21 deg 37′, the shore is fringed by coral-reefs (see
Lieutenant Boteler’s “Narrative,” volume ii., page 106), less than a
mile in width, and with shallow water within. There are outlying
coral-shoals in several parts of the offing, with about ten fathoms
between them and the shore, and the depth of the sea one mile and a
half seaward, is about thirty fathoms. The part above specified is
engraved on a large scale; and as in the charts on rather a smaller
scale the same fringe of reef extends as far as latitude 33 deg 15′; I
have coloured the whole of this part of the coast red. The islands of
JUAN DE NOVA (in latitude 17 deg S.) appear in the charts on a large
scale to be fringed, but I have not been able to ascertain whether the
reefs are of coral; uncoloured. The main part of the west coast appears
to be low, with outlying sandbanks, which, Lieutenant Boteler (volume
ii., page 106) says, “are faced on the edge of deep water by a line of
sharp-pointed coral-rocks.” Nevertheless I have not coloured this part,
as I cannot make out by the charts that the coast itself is fringed.
The headlands of NARRENDA and PASSANDAVA Bays (14 deg 40′) and the
islands in front of RADAMA HARBOUR are represented in the plans as
regularly fringed, and have accordingly been coloured red. With respect
to the EAST COAST OF MADAGASCAR, Dr. Allan informs me in a letter, that
the whole line of coast, from TAMATAVE, in 18 deg 12′, to C. AMBER, at
the extreme northern point of the island, is bordered by coral-reefs.
The land is low, uneven, and gradually rising from the coast. From
Captain Owen’s charts, also, the existence of these reefs, which
evidently belong to the fringing class, on some parts, namely N. of
BRITISH SOUND, and near NGONCY, of the above line of coast might have
been inferred. Lieutenant Boteler (volume i., page 155) speaks of “the
reef surrounding the island of ST. MARY’S at a small distance from the
shore.” In a previous chapter I have described, from the information of
Dr. Allan, the manner in which the reefs extend in N.E. lines from the
headlands on this coast, thus sometimes forming rather deep channels
within them, this seems caused by the action of the currents, and the
reefs spring up from the submarine prolongations of the sandy
headlands. The above specified portion of the coast is coloured red.
The remaining S.E. portions do not appear in any published chart to
possess reefs of any kind; and the Rev. W. Ellis, whose means of
information regarding this side of Madagascar have been extensive,
informs me he believes there are none.
EAST COAST OF AFRICA.
Proceeding from the northern part, the coast appears, for a
considerable space, without reefs. My information, I may here observe,
is derived from the survey by Captain Owen, together with his
narrative; and that by Lieutenant Boteler. At MUKDEESHA (10 deg 1′ N.)
there is a coral-reef extending four or five miles along the shore
(Owen’s “Narr.” volume i, page 357) which in the chart lies at the
distance of a quarter of a mile from the shore, and has within it from
six to ten feet water: this then is a fringing-reef, and is coloured
red. From JUBA, a little S. of the equator, to LAMOO (in 2 deg 20′ S.)
“the coast and islands are formed of madrepore” (Owen’s “Narrative,”
volume i., page 363). The chart of this part (entitled DUNDAS Islands),
presents an extraordinary appearance; the coast of the mainland is
quite straight and it is fronted at the average distance of two miles,
by exceedingly narrow, straight islets, fringed with reefs. Within the
chain of islets, there are extensive tidal flats and muddy bays, into
which many rivers enter; the depths of these spaces varies from one to
four fathoms—the latter depth not being common, and about twelve feet
the average. Outside the chain of islets, the sea, at the distance of a
mile, varies in depth from eight to fifteen fathoms. Lieutenant Boteler
(“Narr.” volume i., page 369) describes the muddy bay of PATTA, which
seems to resemble other parts of this coast, as fronted by small,
narrow, level islets formed of decomposing coral, the margin of which
is seldom of greater height than twelve feet, overhanging the rocky
surface from which the islets rise. Knowing that the islets are formed
of coral, it is, I think, scarcely possible to view the coast, and not
at once conclude that we here see a fringing-reef, which has been
upraised a few feet: the unusual depth of from two to four fathoms
within some of these islets, is probably due to muddy rivers having
prevented the growth of coral near the shore. There is, however, one
difficulty on this view, namely, that before the elevation took place,
which converted the reef into a chain of islets, the water must
apparently have been still deeper; on the other hand it may be supposed
that the formation of a nearly perfect barrier in front, of so large an
extent of coast, would cause the currents (especially in front of the
rivers), to deepen their muddy beds. When describing in the chapter on
fringing-reefs, those of Mauritius, I have given my reasons for
believing that the shoal spaces within reefs of this kind, must, in
many instances, have been deepened. However this may be, as several
parts of this line of coast are undoubtedly fringed by living reefs, I
have coloured it red.— MALEENDA (3 deg 20′ S.). In the plan of the
harbour, the south headland appears fringed; and in Owen’s chart on a
larger scale, the reefs are seen to extend nearly thirty miles
southward; coloured red.—MOMBAS (4 deg 5′ S.). The island which forms
the harbour, “is surrounded by cliffs of madrepore, capable of being
rendered almost impregnable” (Owen’s “Narr.” volume i., page 412). The
shore of the mainland N. and S. of the harbour, is most regularly
fringed by a coral-reef at a distance from half a mile to one mile and
a quarter from the land; within the reef the depth is from nine to
fifteen feet; outside the reef the depth at rather less than half a
mile is thirty fathoms. From the charts it appears that a space about
thirty-six miles in length, is here fringed; coloured red.—PEMBA (5 deg
S.) is an island of coral-formation, level, and about two hundred feet
in height (Owen’s “Narr.” volume i., page 425); it is thirty-five miles
long, and is separated from the mainland by a deep sea. The outer coast
is represented in the chart as regularly fringed; coloured red. The
mainland in front of Pemba is likewise fringed; but there also appear
to be some outlying reefs with deep water between them and the shore. I
do not understand their structure, either from the charts or the
description, therefore have not coloured them.—ZANZIBAR resembles Pemba
in most respects; its southern half on the western side and the
neighbouring islets are fringed; coloured red. On the mainland, a
little S. of Zanzibar, there are some banks parallel to the coast,
which I should have thought had been formed of coral, had it not been
said (Boteler’s “Narr.” volume ii., page 39) that they were composed of
sand; not coloured.—LATHAM’S BANK is a small island, fringed by
coral-reefs; but being only ten feet high, it has not been
coloured.—MONFEEA is an island of the same character as Pemba; its
outer shore is fringed, and its southern extremity is connected with
Keelwa Point on the mainland by a chain of islands fringed by reefs;
coloured red. The four last-mentioned islands resemble in many respects
some of the islands in the Red Sea, which will presently be described.—
KEELWA. In a plan of the shore, a space of twenty miles N. and S. of
this place is fringed by reefs, apparently of coral: these reefs are
prolonged still further southward in Owen’s general chart. The coast in
the plans of the rivers LINDY and MONGHOW (9 deg 59′ and 10 deg 7′ S.)
has the same structure; coloured red.—QUERIMBA Islands (from 10 deg 40′
to 13 deg S.). A chart on a large scale is given of these islands; they
are low, and of coral-formation (Boteler’s “Narr.” volume ii., page
54); and generally have extensive reefs projecting from them which are
dry at low water, and which on the outside rise abruptly from a deep
sea: on their insides they are separated from the continent by a
channel, or rather a succession of bays, with an average depth of ten
fathoms. The small headlands on the continent also have coral-banks
attached to them; and the Querimba islands and banks are placed on the
lines of prolongation of these headlands, and are separated from them
by very shallow channels. It is evident that whatever cause, whether
the drifting of sediment or subterranean movements, produced the
headlands, likewise produced, as might have been expected, submarine
prolongations to them; and these towards their outer extremities, have
since afforded a favourable basis for the growth of coral-reefs, and
subsequently for the formation of islets. As these reefs clearly belong
to the fringing class, the Querimba islands have been coloured
red.—MONABILA (13 deg 32′ S.). In the plan of this harbour, the
headlands outside are fringed by reefs apparently of coral; coloured
red.—MOZAMBIQUE (150 deg S.) The outer part of the island on which the
city is built, and the neighbouring islands, are fringed by
coral-reefs; coloured red. From the description given in Owen’s “Narr.”
(volume i., page 162), the shore from MOZAMBIQUE to DELAGOA BAY appears
to be low and sandy; many of the shoals and islets off this line of
coast are of coral-formation; but from their small size and lowness, it
is not possible, from the charts, to know whether they are truly
fringed. Hence this portion of coast is left uncoloured, as are
likewise those parts more northward, of which no mention has been made
in the foregoing pages from the want of information.
PERSIAN GULF.
From the charts lately published on a large scale by the East India
Company, it appears that several parts, especially the southern shores
of this gulf, are fringed by coral-reefs; but as the water is very
shallow, and as there are numerous sandbanks, which are difficult to
distinguish on the chart from reefs, I have not coloured the upper part
red. Towards the mouth, however, where the water is rather deeper, the
islands of ORMUZ and LARRACK, appear so regularly fringed, that I have
coloured them red. There are certainly no atolls in the Persian Gulf.
The shores of IMMAUM, and of the promontory forming the southern
headland of the Persian Gulf, seem to be without reefs. The whole S.W.
part (except one or two small patches) of ARABIA FELIX, and the shores
of SOCOTRA appear from the charts and memoir of Captain Haines
(“Geographical Journal,” 1839, page 125) to be without any reefs. I
believe there are no extensive coral-reefs on any part of the coasts of
INDIA, except on the low promontory of MADURA (as already mentioned) in
front of Ceylon.
RED SEA.
My information is chiefly derived from the admirable charts published
by the East India Company in 1836, from personal communication with
Captain Moresby, one of the surveyors, and from the excellent memoir,
“Uber die Natur der Corallen-Banken des Rothen Meeres,” by Ehrenberg.
The plains immediately bordering the Red Sea seem chiefly to consist of
a sedimentary formation of the newer tertiary period. The shore is,
with the exception of a few parts, fringed by coral-reefs. The water is
generally profoundly deep close to the shore; but this fact, which has
attracted the attention of most voyagers, seems to have no necessary
connection with the presence of reefs; for Captain Moresby particularly
observed to me, that, in latitude 24 deg 10′ on the eastern side, there
is a piece of coast, with very deep water close to it, without any
reefs, but not differing in other respects from the usual nature of the
coast-line. The most remarkable feature in the Red Sea is the chain of
submerged banks, reefs, and islands, lying some way from the shore,
chiefly on the eastern side; the space within being deep enough to
admit a safe navigation in small vessels. The banks are generally of an
oval form, and some miles in width; but some of them are very long in
proportion to their width. Captain Moresby informs me that any one, who
had not made actual plans of them, would be apt to think that they were
much more elongated than they really are. Many of them rise to the
surface, but the greater number lie from five to thirty fathoms beneath
it, with irregular soundings on them. They consist of sand and living
coral; coral on most of them, according to Captain Moresby, covering
the greater part of their surface. They extend parallel to the shore,
and they are not unfrequently connected in their middle parts by short
transverse banks with the mainland. The sea is generally profoundly
deep quite close to them, as it is near most parts of the coast of the
mainland; but this is not universally the case, for between latitude 15
deg and 17 deg the water deepens quite gradually from the banks, both
on the eastern and western shores, towards the middle of the sea.
Islands in many parts arise from these banks; they are low,
flat-topped, and consist of the same horizontally stratified formation
with that forming the plain-like margin of the mainland. Some of the
smaller and lower islands consist of mere sand. Captain Moresby informs
me, that small masses of rock, the remnants of islands, are left on
many banks where there is now no dry land. Ehrenberg also asserts that
most of the islets, even the lowest, have a flat abraded basis,
composed of the same tertiary formation: he believes that as soon as
the surf wears down the protuberant parts of a bank, just beneath the
level of the sea, the surface becomes protected from further abrasion
by the growth of coral, and he thus accounts for the existence of so
many banks standing on a level with the surface of this sea. It appears
that most of the islands are certainly decreasing in size.
The form of the banks and islands is most singular in the part just
referred to, namely, from latitude 15 deg to 17 deg, where the sea
deepens quite gradually: the DHALAC group, on the western coast, is
surrounded by an intricate archipelago of islets and shoals; the main
island is very irregularly shaped, and it includes a bay seven miles
long, by four across, in which no bottom was found with 252 feet: there
is only one entrance into this bay, half a mile wide, and with an
island in front of it. The submerged banks on the eastern coast, within
the same latitudes, round FARSAN Island, are, likewise, penetrated by
many narrow creeks of deep water; one is twelve miles long, in the form
of a hatchet, in which, close to its broad upper end, soundings were
not struck with 360 feet, and its entrance is only half a mile wide: in
another creek of the same nature, but even with a more irregular
outline, there was no bottom with 480 feet. The island of Farsan,
itself, has as singular a form as any of its surrounding banks. The
bottom of the sea round the Dhalac and Farsan Islands consists chiefly
of sand and agglutinated fragments, but, in the deep and narrow creeks,
it consists of mud; the islands themselves consist of thin,
horizontally stratified, modern tertiary beds, containing but little
broken coral (Ruppell, “Reise in Abyssinie,” Band. i., S. 247.), their
shores are fringed by living coral-reefs.
From the account given by Ruppell (Ibid., S. 245.) of the manner in
which Dhalac has been rent by fissures, the opposite sides of which
have been unequally elevated (in one instance to the amount of fifty
feet), it seems probable that its irregular form, as well as probably
that of Farsan, may have been partly caused by unequal elevations; but,
considering the general form of the banks, and of the deep-water
creeks, together with the composition of the land, I think their
configuration is more probably due in great part to strong currents
having drifted sediment over an uneven bottom: it is almost certain
that their form cannot be attributed to the growth of coral. Whatever
may have been the precise origin of the Dhalac and Farsan
Archipelagoes, the greater number of the banks on the eastern side of
the Red Sea seem to have originated through nearly similar means. I
judge of this from their similarity in configuration (in proof of which
I may instance a bank on the east coast in latitude 22 deg; and
although it is true that the northern banks generally have a less
complicated outline), and from their similarity in composition, as may
be observed in their upraised portions. The depth within the banks
northward of latitude 17 deg, is usually greater, and their outer sides
shelve more abruptly (circumstances which seem to go together) than in
the Dhalac and Farsan Archipelagoes; but this might easily have been
caused by a difference in the action of the currents during their
formation: moreover, the greater quantity of living coral, which,
according to Captain Moresby, exists on the northern banks, would tend
to give them steeper margins.
From this account, brief and imperfect as it is, we can see that the
great chain of banks on the eastern coast, and on the western side in
the southern portion, differ greatly from true barrier-reefs wholly
formed by the growth of coral. It is indeed the direct conclusion of
Ehrenberg (“Uber die,” etc., pages 45 and 51), that they are connected
in their origin quite secondarily with the growth of coral; and he
remarks that the islands off the coast of Norway, if worn down level
with the sea, and merely coated with living coral, would present a
nearly similar appearance. I cannot, however, avoid suspecting, from
information given me by Dr. Malcolmson and Captain Moresby, that
Ehrenberg has rather under-rated the influence of corals, in some
places at least, on the formation of the tertiary deposits of the Red
Sea.
THE WEST COAST OF THE RED SEA BETWEEN LATITUDE 19 DEG AND 22 DEG.
There are, in this space, reefs, which, if I had known nothing of those
in other parts of the Red Sea, I should unhesitatingly have considered
as barrier-reefs; and, after deliberation, I have come to the same
conclusion. One of these reefs, in 20 deg 15′, is twenty miles long,
less than a mile in width (but expanding at the northern end into a
disc), slightly sinuous, and extending parallel to the mainland at the
distance of five miles from it, with very deep water within; in one
spot soundings were not obtained with 205 fathoms. Some leagues further
south, there is another linear reef, very narrow, ten miles long, with
other small portions of reef, north and south, almost connected with
it; and within this line of reefs (as well as outside) the water is
profoundly deep. There are also some small linear and sickle-formed
reefs, lying a little way out at sea. All these reefs are covered, as I
am informed by Captain Moresby, by living corals. Here, then, we have
all the characters of reefs of the barrier class; and in some outlying
reefs we have an approach to the structure of atolls. The source of my
doubts about the classification of these reefs, arises from having
observed in the Dhalac and Farsan groups the narrowness and
straightness of several spits of sand and rock: one of these spits in
the Dhalac group is nearly fifteen miles long, only two broad, and it
is bordered on each side with deep water; so that, if worn down by the
surf, and coated with living corals, it would form a reef nearly
similar to those within the space under consideration. There is, also,
in this space (latitude 21 deg) a peninsula, bordered by cliffs, with
its extremity worn down to the level of the sea, and its basis fringed
with reefs: in the line of prolongation of this peninsula, there lies
the island of MACOWA (formed, according to Captain Moresby, of the
usual tertiary deposit), and some smaller islands, large parts of which
likewise appear to have been worn down, and are now coated with living
corals. If the removal of the strata in these several cases had been
more complete, the reefs thus formed would have nearly resembled those
barrier-like ones now under discussion. Notwithstanding these facts, I
cannot persuade myself that the many very small, isolated, and
sickle-formed reefs and others, long, nearly straight, and very narrow,
with the water unfathomably deep close round them, could possibly have
been formed by corals merely coating banks of sediment, or the abraded
surfaces of irregularly shaped islands. I feel compelled to believe
that the foundations of these reefs have subsided, and that the corals,
during their upward growth, have given to these reefs their present
forms: I may remark that the subsidence of narrow and
irregularly-shaped peninsulas and islands, such as those existing on
the coasts of the Red Sea, would afford the requisite foundations for
the reefs in question.
THE WEST COAST FROM LATITUDE 22 DEG TO 24 DEG.
This part of the coast (north of the space coloured blue on the map) is
fronted by an irregularly shelving bank, from about ten to thirty
fathoms deep; numerous little reefs, some of which have the most
singular shapes, rise from this bank. It may be observed, respecting
one of them, in latitude 23 deg 10′, that if the promontory in latitude
24 deg were worn down to the level of the sea, and coated with corals,
a very similar and grotesquely formed reef would be produced. Many of
the reefs on this part of the coast may thus have originated; but there
are some sickle, and almost atoll-formed reefs lying in deep water off
the promontory in latitude 24 deg, which lead me to suppose that all
these reefs are more probably allied to the barrier or atoll classes. I
have not, however, ventured to colour this portion of coast. ON THE
WEST COAST FROM LATITUDE 19 DEG TO 17 DEG (south of space coloured blue
on the map), there are many low islets of very small dimensions, not
much elongated, and rising out of great depths at a distance from the
coast; these cannot be classed either with atolls, or barrier- or
fringing-reefs. I may here remark that the outlying reefs on the west
coast, between latitude 19 deg and 24 deg, are the only ones in the Red
Sea, which approach in structure to the true atolls of the Indian and
Pacific Oceans, but they present only imperfect miniature likenesses of
them.
EASTERN COAST.
I have felt the greatest doubt about colouring any portion of this
coast, north of the fringing-reefs round the Farsan Islands in 16 deg
10′. There are many small outlying coral-reefs along the whole line of
coast; but as the greater number rise from banks not very deeply
submerged (the formation of which has been shown to be only secondarily
connected with the growth of coral), their origin may be due simply to
the growth of knolls of corals, from an irregular foundation situated
within a limited depth. But between latitude 18 deg and 20 deg, there
are so many linear, elliptic, and extremely small reefs, rising
abruptly out of profound depths, that the same reasons, which led me to
colour blue a portion of the west coast, have induced me to do the same
in this part. There exist some small outlying reefs rising from deep
water, north of latitude 20 deg (the northern limit coloured blue), on
the east coast; but as they are not very numerous and scarcely any of
them linear, I have thought it right to leave them uncoloured.
In the SOUTHERN PARTS of the Red Sea, considerable spaces of the
mainland, and of some of the Dhalac islands, are skirted by reefs,
which, as I am informed by Captain Moresby, are of living coral, and
have all the characters of the fringing class. As in these latitudes,
there are no outlying linear or sickle-formed reefs, rising out of
unfathomable depths, I have coloured these parts of the coast red. On
similar grounds, I have coloured red the NORTHERN PARTS OF THE WESTERN
COAST (north of latitude 24 deg 30′), and likewise the shores of the
chief part of the GULF OF SUEZ. In the GULF OF ACABA, as I am informed
by Captain Moresby there are no coral-reefs, and the water is
profoundly deep.
WEST INDIES.
My information regarding the reefs of this area, is derived from
various sources, and from an examination of numerous charts; especially
of those lately executed during the survey under Captain Owen, R.N. I
lay under particular obligation to Captain Bird Allen, R.N., one of the
members of the late survey, for many personal communications on this
subject. As in the case of the Red Sea, it is necessary to make some
preliminary remarks on the submerged banks of the West Indies, which
are in some degree connected with coral-reefs, and cause considerable
doubts in their classification. That large accumulations of sediment
are in progress on the West Indian shores, will be evident to any one
who examines the charts of that sea, especially of the portion north of
a line joining Yucutan and Florida. The area of deposition seems less
intimately connected with the debouchement of the great rivers, than
with the course of the sea-currents; as is evident from the vast
extension of the banks from the promontories of Yucutan and Mosquito.
Besides the coast-banks, there are many of various dimensions which
stand quite isolated; these closely resemble each other, they lie from
two or three to twenty or thirty fathoms under water, and are composed
of sand, sometimes firmly agglutinated, with little or no coral; their
surfaces are smooth and nearly level, shelving only to the amount of a
few fathoms, very gradually all round towards their edges, where they
plunge abruptly into the unfathomable sea. This steep inclination of
their sides, which is likewise characteristic of the coast-banks, is
very remarkable: I may give as an instance, the Misteriosa Bank, on the
edges of which the soundings change in 250 fathoms horizontal distance,
from 11 to 210 fathoms; off the northern point of the bank of Old
Providence, in 200 fathoms horizontal distance, the change is from 19
to 152 fathoms; off the Great Bahama Bank, in 160 fathoms horizontal
distance, the inclination is in many places from 10 fathoms to no
bottom with 190 fathoms. On coasts in all parts of the world, where
sediment is accumulating, something of this kind may be observed; the
banks shelve very gently far out to sea, and then terminate abruptly.
The form and composition of the banks standing in the middle parts of
the W. Indian Sea, clearly show that their origin must be chiefly
attributed to the accumulation of sediment; and the only obvious
explanation of their isolated position is the presence of a nucleus,
round which the currents have collected fine drift matter. Any one who
will compare the character of the bank surrounding the hilly island of
Old Providence, with those banks in its neighbourhood which stand
isolated, will scarcely doubt that they surround submerged mountains.
We are led to the same conclusion by examining the bank called Thunder
Knoll, which is separated from the Great Mosquito Bank by a channel
only seven miles wide, and 145 fathoms deep. There cannot be any doubt
that the Mosquito Bank has been formed by the accumulation of sediment
round the promontory of the same name; and Thunder Knoll resembles the
Mosquito Bank, in the state of its surface submerged twenty fathoms, in
the inclinations of its sides, in composition, and in every other
respect. I may observe, although the remark is here irrelevant, that
geologists should be cautious in concluding that all the outlyers of
any formation have once been connected together, for we here see that
deposits, doubtless of exactly the same nature, may be deposited with
large valley-like spaces between them.
Linear strips of coral-reefs and small knolls project from many of the
isolated, as well as coast-banks; sometimes they occur quite
irregularly placed, as on the Mosquito Bank, but more generally they
form crescents on the windward side, situated some little distance
within the outer edge of the banks:—thus on the Serranilla Bank they
form an interrupted chain which ranges between two and three miles
within the windward margin: generally they occur, as on Roncador,
Courtown, and Anegada Banks, nearer the line of deep water. Their
occurrence on the windward side is conformable to the general rule, of
the efficient kinds of corals flourishing best where most exposed; but
their position some way within the line of deep water I cannot explain,
without it be, that a depth somewhat less than that close to the outer
margin of the banks, is most favourable to their growth. Where the
corals have formed a nearly continuous rim, close to the windward edge
of a bank some fathoms submerged, the reef closely resembles an atoll;
but if the bank surrounds an island (as in the case of Old Providence),
the reef resembles an encircling barrier-reef. I should undoubtedly
have classed some of these fringed banks as imperfect atolls, or
barrier-reefs, if the sedimentary nature of their foundations had not
been evident from the presence of other neighbouring banks, of similar
forms and of similar composition, but without the crescent-like
marginal reef: in the third chapter, I observed that probably some
atoll-like reefs did exist, which had originated in the manner here
supposed.
Proofs of elevation within recent tertiary periods abound, as referred
to in the sixth chapter, over nearly the whole area of the West Indies.
Hence it is easy to understand the origin of the low land on the
coasts, where sediment is now accumulating; for instance on the
northern part of Yucutan, and on the N.E. part of Mosquito, where the
land is low, and where extensive banks appear to be in progressive
formation. Hence, also, the origin of the Great Bahama Banks, which are
bordered on their western and southern edges by very narrow, long,
singularly shaped islands, formed of sand, shells, and coral-rock, and
some of them about a hundred feet in height, is easily explained by the
elevation of banks fringed on their windward (western and southern)
sides by coral-reefs. On this view, however, we must suppose either
that the chief part of the surfaces of the great Bahama sandbanks were
all originally deeply submerged, and were brought up to their present
level by the same elevatory action, which formed the linear islands; or
that during the elevation of the banks, the superficial currents and
swell of the waves continued wearing them down and keeping them at a
nearly uniform level: the level is not quite uniform; for, in
proceeding from the N.W. end of the Bahama group towards the S.E. end,
the depth of the banks increases, and the area of land decreases, in a
very gradual and remarkable manner. The latter view, namely, that these
banks have been worn down by the currents and swell during their
elevation, seems to me the most probable one. It is, also, I believe,
applicable to many banks, situated in widely distant parts of the West
Indian Sea, which are wholly submerged; for, on any other view, we must
suppose, that the elevatory forces have acted with astonishing
uniformity.
The shores of the Gulf of Mexico, for the space of many hundred miles,
is formed by a chain of lagoons, from one to twenty miles in breadth
(“Columbian Navigator,” page 178, etc.), containing either fresh or
salt water, and separated from the sea by linear strips of sand. Great
spaces of the shores of Southern Brazil (In the “London and Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal,” 1841, page 257, I have described a singular bar
of sandstone lying parallel to the coast off Pernambuco in Brazil,
which probably is an analogous formation.), and of the United States
from Long Island (as observed by Professor Rogers) to Florida have the
same character. Professor Rogers, in his “Report to the British
Association” (volume iii., page 13), speculates on the origin of these
low, sandy, linear islets; he states that the layers of which they are
composed are too homogeneous, and contain too large a proportion of
shells, to permit the common supposition of their formation being
simply due to matter thrown up, where it now lies, by the surf: he
considers these islands as upheaved bars or shoals, which were
deposited in lines where opposed currents met. It is evident that these
islands and spits of sand parallel to the coast, and separated from it
by shallow lagoons, have no necessary connection with coral-formations.
But in Southern Florida, from the accounts I have received from persons
who have resided there, the upraised islands seem to be formed of
strata, containing a good deal of coral, and they are extensively
fringed by living reefs; the channels within these islands are in some
places between two and three miles wide, and five or six fathoms deep,
though generally (In the ordinary sea-charts, no lagoons appear on the
coast of Florida, north of 26 deg; but Major Whiting (“Silliman’s
Journal,” volume xxxv., page 54) says that many are formed by sand
thrown up along the whole line of coast from St. Augustine’s to Jupiter
Inlet.) they are less in depth than width. After having seen how
frequently banks of sediment in the West Indian Sea are fringed by
reefs, we can readily conceive that bars of sediment might be greatly
aided in their formation along a line of coast, by the growth of
corals; and such bars would, in that case, have a deceptive resemblance
with true barrier-reefs.
Having now endeavoured to remove some sources of doubt in classifying
the reefs of the West Indies, I will give my authorities for colouring
such portions of the coast as I have thought myself warranted in doing.
Captain Bird Allen informs me, that most of the islands on the BAHAMA
BANKS are fringed, especially on their windward sides, with living
reefs; and hence I have coloured those, which are thus represented in
Captain Owen’s late chart, red. The same officer informs me, that the
islands along the southern part of FLORIDA are similarly fringed;
coloured red. CUBA: Proceeding along the northern coast, at the
distance of forty miles from the extreme S.E. point, the shores are
fringed by reefs, which extend westward for a space of 160 miles, with
only a few breaks. Parts of these reefs are represented in the plans of
the harbours on this coast by Captain Owen; and an excellent
description is given of them by Mr. Taylor (Loudon’s “Mag. of Nat.
Hist.” volume ix., page 449); he states that they enclosed a space
called the “baxo,” from half to three-quarters of a mile in width, with
a sandy bottom, and a little coral. In most parts people can wade, at
low water, to the reef; but in some parts the depth is between two and
three fathoms. Close outside the reef, the depth is between six and
seven fathoms; these well-characterised fringing-reefs are coloured
red. Westward of longitude 77 deg 30′, on the northern side of Cuba, a
great bank commences, which extends along the coast for nearly four
degrees of longitude. In the place of its commencement, in its
structure, and in the “CAYS,” or low islands on its edge, there is a
marked correspondence (as observed by Humboldt, “Pers. Narr.” volume
vii., page 88) between it and the Great Bahama and Sal Banks, which lie
directly in front. Hence one is led to attribute the same origin to
both these sets of banks; namely, the accumulation of sediment,
conjoined with an elevatory movement, and the growth of coral on their
outward edges; those parts which appear fringed by living reefs are
coloured red. Westward of these banks, there is a portion of coast
apparently without reefs, except in the harbours, the shores of which
seem in the published plans to be fringed. The COLORADO SHOALS (see
Captain Owen’s charts), and the low land at the western end of Cuba,
correspond as closely in relative position and structure to the banks
at the extreme point of Florida, as the banks above described on the
north side of Cuba, do to the Bahamas, the depth within the islets and
reefs on the outer edge of the COLORADOS, is generally between two and
three fathoms, increasing to twelve fathoms in the southern part, where
the bank becomes nearly open, without islets or coral-reefs; the
portions which are fringed are coloured red. The southern shore of Cuba
is deeply concave, and the included space is filled up with mud and
sandbanks, low islands and coral-reefs. Between the mountainous ISLE OF
PINES and the southern shore of Cuba, the general depth is only between
two and three fathoms; and in this part small islands, formed of
fragmentary rock and broken madrepores (Humboldt, “Pers. Narr.” volume
vii. pages 51, 86 to 90, 291, 309, 320), rise abruptly, and just reach
the surface of the sea. From some expressions used in the “Columbian
Navigator” (volume i., part ii., page 94), it appears that considerable
spaces along the outer coast of Southern Cuba are bounded by cliffs of
coral-rock, formed probably by the upheaval of coral-reefs and
sandbanks. The charts represent the southern part of the Isle of Pines
as fringed by reefs, which the “Columb. Navig.” says extend some way
from the coast, but have only from nine to twelve feet water on them;
these are coloured red.—I have not been able to procure any detailed
description of the large groups of banks and “cays” further eastward on
the southern side of Cuba; within them there is a large expanse, with a
muddy bottom, from eight to twelve fathoms deep; although some parts of
this line of coast are represented in the general charts of the West
Indies, as fringed, I have not thought it prudent to colour them. The
remaining portion of the south coast of Cuba appears to be without
coral-reefs.
YUCUTAN.
The N.E. part of the promontory appears in Captain Owen’s charts to be
fringed; coloured red. The eastern coast, from 20 deg to 18 deg is
fringed. South of latitude 18 deg, there commences the most remarkable
reef in the West Indies: it is about one hundred and thirty miles in
length, ranging in a N. and S. line, at an average distance of fifteen
miles from the coast. The islets on it are all low, as I have been
informed by Captain B. Allen; the water deepens suddenly on the outside
of the reef, but not more abruptly than off many of the sedimentary
banks: within its southern extremity (off HONDURAS) the depth is
twenty-five fathoms; but in the more northern parts, the depth soon
increases to ten fathoms, and within the northernmost part, for a space
of twenty miles, the depth is only from one to two fathoms. In most of
these respects we have the characteristics of a barrier-reef;
nevertheless, from observing, first, that the channel within the reef
is a continuation of a great irregular bay, which penetrates the
mainland to the depth of fifty miles; and secondly, that considerable
spaces of this barrier-like reef are described in the charts (for
instance, in latitude 16 deg 45′ and 16 deg 12′) as formed of pure
sand; and thirdly, from knowing that sediment is accumulating in many
parts of the West Indies in banks parallel to the shore; I have not
ventured to colour this reef as a barrier, without further evidence
that it has really been formed by the growth of corals, and that it is
not merely in parts a spit of sand, and in other parts a worn down
promontory, partially coated and fringed by reefs; I lean, however, to
the probability of its being a barrier-reef, produced by subsidence. To
add to my doubts, immediately on the outside of this barrier-like reef,
TURNEFFE, LIGHTHOUSE, and GLOVER reefs are situated, and these reefs
have so completely the form of atolls, that if they had occurred in the
Pacific, I should not have hesitated about colouring them blue.
TURNEFFE REEF seems almost entirely filled up with low mud islets; and
the depth within the other two reefs is only from one to three fathoms.
From this circumstance and from their similarity in form, structure,
and relative position, both to the bank called NORTHERN TRIANGLES, on
which there is an islet between seventy and eighty feet, and to COZUMEL
Island, the level surface of which is likewise between seventy and
eighty feet in height, I consider it more probable that the three
foregoing banks are the worn down bases of upheaved shoals, fringed
with corals, than that they are true atolls, wholly produced by the
growth of coral during subsidence; left uncoloured.
In front of the eastern MOSQUITO coast, there are between latitude 12
deg and 16 deg some extensive banks (already mentioned, page 148), with
high islands rising from their centres; and there are other banks
wholly submerged, both of which kinds of banks are bordered, near their
windward margins, by crescent-shaped coral-reefs. But it can hardly be
doubted, as was observed in the preliminary remarks, that these banks
owe their origin, like the great bank extending from the Mosquito
promontory, almost entirely to the accumulation of sediment, and not to
the growth of corals; hence I have not coloured them.
CAYMAN ISLAND: this island appears in the charts to be fringed; and
Captain B. Allen informs me that the reefs extend about a mile from the
shore, and have only from five to twelve feet water within them;
coloured red.—JAMAICA: judging from the charts, about fifteen miles of
the S.E. extremity, and about twice that length on the S.W. extremity,
and some portions on the S. side near Kingston and Port Royal, are
regularly fringed, and therefore are coloured red. From the plans of
some harbours on the N. side of Jamaica, parts of the coast appear to
be fringed; but as these are not represented in the charts of the whole
island, I have not coloured them.—ST. DOMINGO: I have not been able to
obtain sufficient information, either from plans of the harbours, or
from general charts, to enable me to colour any part of the coast,
except sixty miles from Port de Plata westward, which seems very
regularly fringed; many other parts, however, of the coast are probably
fringed, especially towards the eastern end of the island.—PUERTO RICO:
considerable portions of the southern, western, and eastern coasts, and
some parts of the northern coast, appear in the charts to be fringed;
coloured red.—Some miles in length of the southern side of the Island
of ST. THOMAS is fringed; most of the VIRGIN GORDA Islands, as I am
informed by Mr. Schomburgk, are fringed; the shores of ANEGADA, as well
as the bank on which it stands, are likewise fringed; these islands
have been coloured red. The greater part of the southern side of SANTA
CRUZ appears in the Danish survey to be fringed (see also Prof. Hovey’s
account of this island, in “Silliman’s Journal,” volume xxxv., page
74); the reefs extend along the shore for a considerable space, and
project rather more than a mile; the depth within the reef is three
fathoms; coloured red.—The ANTILLES, as remarked by Von Buch (“Descrip.
Iles Canaries,” page 494), may be divided into two linear groups, the
western row being volcanic, and the eastern of modern calcareous
origin; my information is very defective on the whole group. Of the
eastern islands, BARBUDA and the western coasts of ANTIGUA and
MARIAGALANTE appear to be fringed: this is also the case with
BARBADOES, as I have been informed by a resident; these islands are
coloured red. On the shores of the Western Antilles, of volcanic
origin, very few coral-reefs appear to exist. The island of MARTINIQUE,
of which there are beautifully executed French charts, on a very large
scale, alone presents any appearance worthy of special notice. The
south-western, southern, and eastern coasts, together forming about
half the circumference of the island, are skirted by very irregular
banks, projecting generally rather less than a mile from the shore, and
lying from two to five fathoms submerged. In front of almost every
valley, they are breached by narrow, crooked, steep-sided passages. The
French engineers ascertained by boring, that these submerged banks
consisted of madreporitic rocks, which were covered in many parts by
thin layers of mud or sand. From this fact, and especially from the
structure of the narrow breaches, I think there can be little doubt
that these banks once formed living reefs, which fringed the shores of
the island, and like other reefs probably reached the surface. From
some of these submerged banks reefs of living coral rise abruptly,
either in small detached patches, or in lines parallel to, but some way
within the outer edges of the banks on which they are based. Besides
the above banks which skirt the shores of the island, there is on the
eastern side a range of linear banks, similarly constituted, twenty
miles in length, extending parallel to the coast line, and separated
from it by a space between two and four miles in width, and from five
to fifteen fathoms in depth. From this range of detached banks, some
linear reefs of living coral likewise rise abruptly; and if they had
been of greater length (for they do not front more than a sixth part of
the circumference of the island), they would necessarily from their
position have been coloured as barrier-reefs; as the case stands they
are left uncoloured. I suspect that after a small amount of subsidence,
the corals were killed by sand and mud being deposited on them, and the
reefs being thus prevented from growing upwards, the banks of
madreporitic rock were left in their present submerged condition.
THE BERMUDA Islands have been carefully described by Lieutenant Nelson,
in an excellent Memoir in the “Geological Transactions” (volume v.,
part i., page 103). In the form of the bank or reef, on one side of
which the islands stand, there is a close general resemblance to an
atoll; but in the following respects there is a considerable
difference,—first, in the margin of the reef not forming (as I have
been informed by Mr. Chaffers, R.N.) a flat, solid surface, laid bare
at low water, and regularly bounding the internal space of shallow
water or lagoon; secondly, in the border of gradually shoaling water,
nearly a mile and a half in width, which surrounds the entire outside
of the reef (as is laid down in Captain Hurd’s chart); and thirdly, in
the size, height, and extraordinary form of the islands, which present
little resemblance to the long, narrow, simple islets, seldom exceeding
half a mile in breadth, which surmount the annular reefs of almost all
the atolls in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Moreover, there are
evident proofs (Nelson, Ibid., page 118), that islands similar to the
existing ones, formerly extended over other parts of the reef. It
would, I believe, be difficult to find a true atoll with land exceeding
thirty feet in height; whereas, Mr. Nelson estimates the highest point
of the Bermuda Islands to be 260 feet; if, however, Mr. Nelson’s view,
that the whole of the land consists of sand drifted by the winds, and
agglutinated together, were proved correct, this difference would be
immaterial; but, from his own account (page 118), there occur in one
place, five or six layers of red earth, interstratified with the
ordinary calcareous rock, and including stones too heavy for the wind
to have moved, without having at the same time utterly dispersed every
grain of the accompanying drifted matter. Mr. Nelson attributes the
origin of these several layers, with their embedded stones, to as many
violent catastrophes; but further investigation in such cases has
generally succeeded in explaining phenomena of this kind by ordinary
and simpler means. Finally, I may remark, that these islands have a
considerable resemblance in shape to Barbuda in the West Indies, and to
Pemba on the eastern coast of Africa, which latter island is about two
hundred feet in height, and consists of coral-rock. I believe that the
Bermuda Islands, from being fringed by living reefs, ought to have been
coloured red; but I have left them uncoloured, on account of their
general resemblance in external form to a lagoon-island or atoll.
INDEX.
The names not in capitals are all names of places, and refer
exclusively to the Appendix: in well-defined archipelagoes, or groups
of islands, the name of each separate island is not given.
ABROLHOS, Brazil, coated by corals.
Abrolhos (Australia).
ABSENCE of coral-reefs from certain coasts.
Acaba, gulf of.
Admiralty group.
AFRICA, east coast, fringing-reef of. Madreporitic rock of.
Africa, east coast.
AGE of individual corals.
Aiou.
Aitutaki.
Aldabra.
Alert reef.
Alexander, Grand Duke, island.
ALLAN, Dr., on Holuthuriæ feeding on corals. On quick growth of corals
at Madagascar. On reefs affected by currents.
Alloufatou.
Alphonse.
Amargoura. (Amargura.)
Amboina.
America, west coast.
Amirantes.
Anachorites.
Anambas.
ANAMOUKA, description of.
Anamouka.
Anadaman islands.
Antilles.
Appoo reef.
Arabia Felix.
AREAS, great extent of, interspersed with low islands. Of subsidence
and of elevation. Of subsidence appear to be elongated. Of subsidence
alternating with areas of elevation.
Arru group.
Arzobispo.
ASCIDIA, depth at which found.
Assomption.
Astova.
Atlantic islands.
ATOLLS, breaches in their reefs. Dimensions of. Dimensions of groups
of. Not based on craters or on banks of sediment, or of rock. Of
irregular forms. Steepness of their flanks. Width of their reef and
islets. Their lowness. Lagoons. General range. With part of their reef
submerged, and theory of.
Augustine, St.
AURORA island, an upraised atoll.
Aurora.
AUSTRAL islands, recently elevated.
Austral islands.
Australia, N.W. coast.
AUSTRALIAN barrier-reef.
Australian barrier.
Babuyan group.
Bahama banks.
Balahac.
Bally.
Baring.
BARRIER-REEF of Australia. Of New Caledonia.
BARRIER-REEFS, breaches through. Not based on worn down margin of rock.
On banks of sediment. On submarine craters. Steepness of their flanks.
Their probable vertical thickness. Theory of their formation.
Bampton shoal.
Banks islands.
Banks in the West Indies.
Bashee islands.
Bass island.
Batoa.
Beaupre reef.
BEECHEY, Captain, obligations of the author to. On submerged reefs.
Account of Matilda island.
BELCHER, Captain, on boring through coral-reef.
Belize reef, off.
Bellinghausen.
Bermuda islands.
Beveridge reef.
Bligh.
BOLABOLA, view of.
Bombay shoal.
Bonin Bay.
Bonin group.
BORINGS through coral-reefs.
BORNEO, W. coast, recently elevated.
Borneo, E. coast. S.W. and W. coast N. coast. Western bank.
Boscawen.
Boston.
Bouka.
Bourbon.
Bourou.
Bouton.
BRAZIL, fringing-reefs on coast of.
BREACHES through barrier-reefs.
Brook.
Bunker.
Bunoa.
BYRON.
Cagayanes.
Candelaria.
Cargados Carajos.
Caroline archipelago.
Caroline island.
Carteret shoal.
CARYOPHYLLIA, depth at which it lives.
Cavilli.
Cayman island.
Celebes.
Ceram.
CEYLON, recently elevated.
Ceylon.
CHAGOS Great Bank, description and theory of.
CHAGOS group.
Chagos group.
CHAMA-SHELLS embedded in coral-rock.
CHAMISSO, on corals preferring the surf.
CHANGES in the state of Keeling atoll. Of atolls.
CHANNELS leading into the lagoons of atolls. Into the Maldiva atolls.
Through barrier-reefs.
Chase.
China sea.
CHRISTMAS atoll.
Christmas atoll.
Christmas island (Indian Ocean).
Clarence.
Clipperton rock.
COCOS, or Keeling atoll.
Cocos (or Keeling).
Cocos island (Pacific).
COCHIN China, encroachments of the sea on the coast.
Cochin China.
Coetivi.
Comoro group.
COMPOSITION of coral-formations.
CONGLOMERATE coral-rock on Keeling atoll. On other atolls. Coral-rock.
COOK islands, recently elevated.
Cook islands.
CORAL-BLOCKS bored by vermiform animals.
CORAL-REEFS, their distribution and absence from certain areas.
Destroyed by loose sediment.
CORAL-ROCK at Keeling atoll. Mauritius. Organic remains of.
CORALS dead but upright in Keeling lagoon. Depths at which they live.
Off Keeling atoll. Killed by a short exposure. Living in the lagoon of
Keeling atoll. Quick growth of, in Keeling lagoon. Merely coating the
bottom of the sea. Standing exposed in the Low archipelago.
CORALLIAN sea.
Corallian sea.
Cornwallis.
Cosmoledo.
COUTHOUY, Mr., alleged proofs of recent elevation of the Low
archipelago. On coral-rock at Mangaia and Aurora islands. On external
ledges round coral-islands. Remarks confirmatory of the author’s
theory.
CRESCENT-FORMED reefs.
Cuba.
CUMING, Mr., on the recent elevation of the Philippines.
Dangerous, or Low archipelago.
Danger islands.
DEPTHS at which reef-building corals live. At Mauritius, the Red Sea,
and in the Maldiva archipelago. At which other corals and corallines
can live.
Dhalac group.
DIEGO GARCIA, slow growth of reef.
DIMENSIONS of the larger groups of atolls.
DISSEVERMENT of the Maldiva atolls, and theory of.
DISTRIBUTION of coral-reefs.
Domingo, St.
DORY, Port, recently elevated.
Dory, Port.
Duff islands.
Durour.
Eap.
EARTHQUAKES at Keeling atoll. In groups of atolls. In Navigator
archipelago.
EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, recently elevated.
Easter.
Echequier.
EHRENBERG, on the banks of the Red Sea. On depths at which corals live
in the Red Sea. On corals preferring the surf. On the antiquity of
certain corals.
Eimeo.
ELEVATED reef of Mauritius.
ELEVATIONS, recent proofs of. Immense areas of.
Elivi.
ELIZABETH island. Recently elevated.
Elizabeth island.
Ellice group.
ENCIRCLED ISLANDS, their height. Geological composition.
EOUA, description of.
Eoua.
ERUPTED MATTER probably not associated with thick masses of coral-rock.
FAIS, recently elevated.
Fais.
Fanning.
Farallon de Medinilla.
Farson group.
Fataka.
FIJI archipelago.
FISH, feeding on corals. Killed in Keeling lagoon by heavy rain.
FISSURES across coral-islands.
FITZROY, Captain, on a submerged shed at Keeling atoll. On an
inundation in the Low archipelago.
Flint.
Flores.
Florida.
Folger.
Formosa.
FORSTER, theory of coral-formations.
Frederick reef.
Freewill.
FRIENDLY group recently elevated.
Friendly archipelago.
FRINGING-REEFS, absent where coast precipitous. Breached in front of
streams. Described by MM. Quoy and Gaimard. Not closely attached to
shelving coasts. Of east coast of Africa. Of Cuba. Of Mauritius. On
worn down banks of rock. On banks of sediment. Their appearance when
elevated. Their growth influenced by currents. By shallowness of sea.
Galapagos archipelago.
Galega.
GAMBIER islands, section of.
Gambier islands.
Gardner.
Gaspar rico.
GEOLOGICAL COMPOSITION of coral-formations.
Gilbert archipelago.
Gilolo.
Glorioso.
GLOUCESTER Island.
Glover reef.
Gomez.
Gouap.
Goulou.
Grampus.
Gran Cocal.
GREAT CHAGOS BANK, description and theory of.
GREY, Captain, on sandbars.
GROUPING of the different classes of reefs.
Guedes.
HALL, Captain B., on Loo Choo.
HARVEY islands, recently elevated.
HEIGHT of encircled islands.
Hermites.
Hervey or Cook islands.
Hogoleu.
HOLOTHURIAE (Holuthuriæ) feeding on coral.
HOUDEN island, height of.
Honduras, reef off.
Horn.
Houtman Abrolhos.
HUAHEINE; alleged proofs of its recent elevation.
Huaheine.
Humphrey.
Hunter.
HURRICANES, effects of, on coral-islands.
Immaum.
Independence.
INDIA, west coast, recently elevated.
India.
IRREGULAR REEFS in shallow seas.
ISLETS of coral-rock, their formation. Their destruction in the Maldiva
atolls.
Jamaica.
Jarvis.
JAVA, recently elevated.
Java.
Johnston island.
Juan de Nova.
Juan de Nova (Madagascar).
Kalatoa.
KAMTSCHATKA, proofs of its recent elevation.
Karkalang.
KEELING atoll, section of reef.
Keeling, south atoll. North atoll.
Keffing.
Kemin.
Kennedy.
Keppel.
Kumi.
Laccadive group.
LADRONES, or Marianas, recently elevated.
Ladrones archipelago.
LAGOON of Keeling atoll.
LAGOONS bordered by inclined ledges and walls, and theory of their
formation. Of small atolls filled up with sediment.
LAGOON-CHANNELS within barrier-reefs.
LAGOON-REEFS, all submerged in some atolls, and rising to the surface
in others.
Lancaster reef.
Latte.
Lauglan islands.
LEDGES round certain lagoons.
Lette.
Lighthouse reef.
LLOYD, Mr., on corals refixing themselves.
LOO CHOO, recently elevated.
Loo Choo.
Louisiade.
LOW ARCHIPELAGO, alleged proofs of its recent elevation.
Low archipelago.
LOWNESS of coral-islands.
Loyalty group.
Lucepara.
LUTKE, Admiral, on fissures across coral-islands.
LUZON, recently elevated.
Luzon.
LYELL, Mr., on channels into the lagoons of atolls. On the lowness of
their leeward sides. On the antiquity of certain corals. On the
apparent continuity of distinct coral-islands. On the recently elevated
beds of the Red Sea. On the outline of the areas of subsidence.
Macassar strait.
Macclesfield bank.
MADAGASCAR, quick growth of corals at. Madreporitic rock of.
Madagascar.
Madjiko-sima.
Madura (Java).
Madura (India).
MAHLOS MAHDOO, theory of formation.
MALACCA, recently elevated.
Malacca.
MALCOLMSON, Dr., on recent elevation of W. coast of India. On recent
elevation of Camaran island.
Malden.
MALDIVA atolls, and theory of their formation. Steepness of their
flanks. Growth of coral at.
Maldiva archipelago.
MANGAIA island. Recently elevated.
Mangaia.
Mangs.
MARIANAS, recently elevated.
Mariana archipelago.
Mariere.
Marquesas archipelago.
Marshall archipelago.
Marshall island.
Martinique.
Martires.
MARY’S ST., in Madagascar, harbour made in reefs.
Mary island.
Matia, or Aurora.
MATILDA atoll.
MAURITIUS, fringing-reefs of. Depths at which corals live there.
Recently elevated.
Mauritius.
MAURUA, section of.
Maurua.
MENCHIKOFF atoll.
Mendana archipelago.
Mendana isles.
Mexico, gulf of.
MILLEPORA COMPLANATA at Keeling atoll.
Mindoro.
Mohilla. (Mohila.)
MOLUCCA islands, recently elevated.
Mopeha.
MORESBY, Captain, on boring through coral-reefs.
Morty.
Mosquito coast.
MUSQUILLO atoll.
Mysol.
NAMOURREK group.
Natunas.
NAVIGATOR archipelago, elevation of.
Navigator archipelago.
Nederlandisch.
NELSON, Lieutenant, on the consolidation of coral-rocks under water.
Theory of coral-formations. On the Bermuda islands.
New Britain.
NEW CALEDONIA, steepness of its reefs. Barrier-reef of.
New Caledonia.
New Guinea (E. end).
New Guinea (W. end).
New Hanover.
NEW HEBRIDES, recently elevated.
New Hebrides.
NEW IRELAND, recently elevated.
New Ireland.
New Nantucket.
Nicobar islands.
Niouha.
NULLIPORAE at Keeling atoll. On the reefs of atolls. On barrier-reefs.
Their wide distribution and abundance.
OBJECTIONS to the theory of subsidence.
Ocean islands.
Ono.
Onouafu. (Onouafou.)
Ormuz.
Oscar group.
OSCILLATIONS of level.
Ouallan, or Ualan. (Oualan.)
OULUTHY atoll.
Outong Java.
Palawan, S.W. coast. N.W. coast. Western bank.
Palmerston.
Palmyra.
Paracells.
Paraquas.
Patchow.
Pelew islands.
PEMBA island, singular form of.
Pemba.
Penrhyn.
Peregrino.
PERNAMBUCO, bar of sandstone at.
PERSIAN gulf, recently elevated.
Persian gulf.
PESCADO.
Pescadores.
Peyster group.
Philip.
PHILIPPINE archipelago, recently elevated.
Philippine archipelago.
Phoenix.
Piguiram.
Pitcairn.
PITT’S bank.
Pitt island.
Platte.
Pleasant.
PORITES, chief coral on margin of Keeling atoll.
Postillions.
POUYNIPETE. Its probable subsidence.
Pouynipete.
Pratas shoal.
Proby.
Providence.
Puerto Rico.
Pulo Anna.
PUMICE floated to coral-islands.
Pylstaart.
PYRARD DE LAVAL, astonishment at the atolls in the Indian Ocean.
QUOY AND GAIMARD, depths at which corals live. Description of reefs
applicable only to fringing-reefs.
RANGE of atolls.
Rapa.
Rearson.
RED SEA, banks of rock coated by reefs. Proofs of its recent elevation.
Supposed subsidence of.
Red Sea.
REEFS, irregular in shallow seas. Rising to the surface in some lagoons
and all submerged in others. Their distribution. Their absence from
some coasts.
Revilla-gigedo.
RING-FORMED REEFS of the Maldiva atolls, and theory of.
Rodriguez.
Rosario.
Rose island.
Rotches.
Rotoumah.
Roug.
Rowley shoals.
RUPPELL, Dr., on the recent deposits of Red Sea.
Sable, ile de.
Sahia de Malha.
St. Pierre.
Sala.
Salomon archipelago. (Solomon.)
SAMOA, or Navigator archipelago, elevation of.
Samoa archipelago.
SAND-BARS parallel to coasts.
Sandal-wood.
SANDWICH archipelago, recently elevated.
Sandwich archipelago.
Sanserot.
Santa-Cruz group.
SAVAGE island, recently elevated.
Savage.
Savu.
Saya, or Sahia de Malha.
Scarborough shoal.
SCARUS feeding on corals.
Schouten.
Scilly.
SCORIAE floated to coral-islands.
Scott’s reef.
SECTIONS of islands encircled by barrier-reefs. Of Bolabola.
SEDIMENT in Keeling lagoon. In other atolls. Injurious to corals.
Transported from coral-islands far seaward.
Seniavine.
Serangani.
Seychelles.
SHIP-BOTTOM quickly coated with coral.
SMYTH island.
SOCIETY archipelago, stationary condition of. Alleged proofs of recent
elevation.
Society archipelago.
Socotra.
Solor.
SOOLOO islands, recently elevated.
Sooloo islands.
Souvaroff.
Spanish.
SPONGE, depths at which found.
Starbuck. (Slarbuck.)
STONES transported in roots of trees.
STORMS, effects of, on coral-islands.
STUTCHBURY, Mr., on the growth of an Agaricia. On upraised corals in
Society archipelago.
SUBSIDENCE of Keeling atoll. Extreme slowness of. Areas of, apparently
elongated. Areas of immense. Great amount of.
Suez, gulf of.
Sulphur islands.
SUMATRA, recently elevated.
Sumatra.
Sumbawa.
SURF favourable to the growth of massive corals.
Swallow shoal.
Sydney island.
TAHITI, alleged proofs of its recent elevation.
Tahiti.
TEMPERATURE of the sea at the Galapagos archipelago.
Tenasserim.
Tenimber island.
Teturoa.
THEORIES on coral-formations.
THEORY OF subsidence, and objections to.
THICKNESS, vertical, of barrier-reefs.
Thomas, St.
Tikopia.
TIMOR, recently elevated.
Timor.
Timor-laut.
Tokan-Bessees.
Tongatabou.
Tonquin.
Toubai.
Toufoa. (Toofoa.)
Toupoua.
TRADITIONS OF CHANGE in coral-islands.
TRIDACNAE embedded in coral-rock. Left exposed in the Low archipelago.
TUBULARIA, quick growth of.
Tumbelan.
Turneffe reef.
Turtle.
Ualan.
VANIKORO, section of. Its state and changes in its reefs.
Vanikoro.
Vine reef.
Virgin Gorda.
Viti archipelago.
VOLCANIC islands, with living corals on their shores. Matter, probably
not associated with thick masses of coral-rock.
VOLCANOES, authorities for their position on the map. Their presence
determined by the movements in progress. Absent or extinct in the areas
of subsidence.
Waigiou.
Wallis island.
Washington.
Well’s reef.
WELLSTEAD, Lieutenant, account of a ship coated with corals.
WEST INDIES, banks of sediment fringed by reefs. Recently elevated.
West Indies.
WHITSUNDAY island, view of. Changes in its state.
WILLIAMS, Rev. J., on traditions of the natives regarding
coral-islands. On antiquity of certain corals.
Wolchonsky.
Wostock.
Xulla islands.
York island.
Yucutan, coast of.
ZONES of different kinds of corals outside the same reefs.
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