March 12, I860.] NEW HARBOUR ON THE N.E. COAST OF AUSTRALIA. 81 



being barren and rising abruptly from the sea, as was generally the case along 

 the north-east coast, were at a distance of 30 or 40 miles inland. All along 

 the north-east coast there was a succession of north and south ranges, which 

 came out and ended on the north-east coasts with bights behind the termina- 

 tion of each headland ; and the recess north of Broad Sound, between the hills 

 terminating there and the next ranges whicli came out about Eockingham 

 Bay, seemed wider than usual, and with more low land. 



The Chairman had asked him to say something about the coral reefs. In 

 obedience to that request he would endeavour to give a brief description. 

 Starting from Sandy Cape, near Harvey Bay, the north-east coast ran up to 

 Cape York, which was the extreme northern point of the continent of Aus- 

 tralia on that side, south of Torres Straits. A little north of Harvey Bay 

 there appeared a set of coral islands and coral reefs, and from there the whole 

 coast was fronted with a continuous margin of coral reefs, stretching right 

 along the face of the coast, and across Torres Straits close up to the shore of 

 New Guinea. The distance was not less than 1200 miles in a straight line. 

 Now, if you were to translate that reef into this part of the world, and sup- 

 posing it started from the north-west coast of France, it would encircle the 

 British islands, including Ireland, the Orkneys and the Shetland isles, and 

 stretch away up to Drontheim on the coast of Norway. This would give some 

 idea of the extent of this coral reef. Imagine, then, a great submarine wall 

 rising from an unknown depth in the bottom of the ocean just up to the 

 level of low water — not one continuous wall, because it was broken through 

 in the upper portion by a number of tolerably deep passages, perhaps twenty 

 or thirty fathoms in depth. These would be like embrasures in the top of a 

 fortress. But below that depth there would be one continued mass of coral 

 matter. This matter was carbonate of lime — solid rock, the same substance 

 as marble — secreted from its solution in the waters of the sea, and made to 

 enter into the solid parts of the structure of the minute polyps that formed 

 these corals. Having thus assumed a solid form, some of it was triturated 

 after the death of the corals by the action of the sea, and spread over and 

 among the unbroken corals, and all compacted together into a hard mass. The 

 finer particles were even carried out and strewn all over the bed of the sur- 

 rounding ocean, so that in every case in the neighbourhood, even as far as 

 Singapore and Java, whenever he had examined the bottom that was brought 

 up on the lead, he found it altogether soluble in dilute acid. There was in 

 that sea a great limestone formation, a great calcareous deposit going on, the 

 result of the action of these little animals, at the present time, similar to the 

 older great masses of calcareous matter, such as the chalk which stretched all 

 over the south-east coast of England, and over a large part of Europe. These 

 little animals had added to the bulk of the earthy mass of Australia a great 

 slice of country, which was at present only comparatively a little underneath 

 the sea, 1200 miles long, varying from 10 to 90 miles in width ; having, in 

 fact, an average of 30 miles in width, and making, if lifted up above the sur- 

 face, a very large tract of country, a great table-land, appended to the sub- 

 marine slope of that side of Australia. The depth from which this wall rose 

 up on its outer edge was certainly not less than 2000 feet. They sounded in 

 some places close up to the reef, sometimes within the general direction of the 

 outer edge ; for there were great convolutions in the line of the reef, great 

 bays in it ; and they sounded in these bays and found no bottom at a depth 

 of 1800 feet. They never reached bottom with any line that was ever put 

 down, except close alongside the reef, within a very few yards where the 

 water broke upon the ridge. So they might certainly assume that the height 

 of this submarine wall was 2000 feet for a great part of its course. This was 

 simply a description of fact. But there was something still more remark- 

 able, perhaps, to be said in connection with this coral mass than the fact that 

 the whole of this huge bulk of matter was solidified by the action of animals 



