TOPOGRAPHY OF THE INDIAN OCEAN. 7 



The plateau upon which the Laccadives rise is nearly two hundred miles 

 in latitude and about ninety in longitude. The two-thousand-fathom line 

 runs nearly parallel with and at a short distance from the fifteen-hundred- 

 fathom line, only it does not follow the tongue of the latter to the east of 

 the Maldives. 1 



There are other isolated banks to the north of the Laccadives off the con- 

 tinental slope (PI. 7). A bank of about twenty miles in length, of a least 

 depth of one hundred and seventy-eight fathoms, lies in latitude 14° 30' 

 north, longitude 73° east, it is separated from the one-hundred-fathom con- 

 tinental line by a depth of more than five hundred fathoms. Farther to the 

 north in latitude 16 30' north, longitude 73° east, is Angria Bank, twenty- 

 five miles in length and twelve in breadth ; it is separated from the one- 

 hundred-fathom line by a channel, with depths varying from one hundred 

 and seventy to over two hundred fathoms; see Admiralty Chart 2737. 



On the same chart are plans of Chetlat and of Kiltan Islands. They 

 are small atolls, each with an island occupying the eastern reef flat, and a 

 narrow reef flat on the western face of a shallow lagoon with a couple of 

 boat passages leading through the western reef. These islands are steep 

 to on the eastern face, but on the western face shallow soundings extend 

 towards the one-hundred-fathom line about a quarter of a mile. 



Minikoi (A. C. 2738) 2 is usually considered as one of the Laccadives, 

 yet it is only sixty-nine miles from the northernmost of the Maldives, while 

 it is one hundred and eight from the southernmost of the Laccadives. 

 This is quite an artificial subdivision, and it seems to me that Minikoi and 

 the Laccadives in the north stand to the Maldives much in the same rela- 

 tion which Addu and Suvadiva do in the south. 



The Laccadives are independent plateaus within the one-thousand-fathom 

 line. Kalpeni, the southern bank, is separated from Minikoi by a channel 

 with a depth of twelve hundred and forty-seven fathoms, while Minikoi is 



1 The " Valdivia " took some soundings between Colombo and Suvadiva, the greatest depth obtained 

 being 4754 metres. Schott, loc. cif., p. 96. 



2 Mr. Gardiner * has taken Minikoi as a typical atoll to which he refers the structure of the Mal- 

 dives ; it appears from the chart and from Mr. Gardiner's description as quite similar to some of the 

 characteristic atolls of the Pacific. Not only Minikoi but the Laccadives as well as the southernmost 

 Maldives do not possess the characteristics of the composite Maldive atolls ; on the contrary, they greatly 



resemble characteristic Pacific atolls. 



* Loc. cit., p. 27. 



