ANALYSIS OF THE SOUNDINGS TAKEN BY THE "AMRA." 13 



part of the Maldives. One mile west of the northern extremity of the faro, 

 southwest of Goadu Island, we sounded in five hundred and four fathoms 

 with a bottom of fine greenish sand with Globigerinae (No. 73). Four miles 

 from the same starting-point in the centre of the channel, we obtained seven 

 hundred and ninety-two fathoms (No. 74) with a bottom of broken shells. 

 One mile east from Makunudu we sounded in five hundred and sixty-six 

 fathoms with a bottom of coarse coral fragments (No. 75). Its western face 

 must be steep and cannot be far from the fifteen-hundred-fathom line. 



The soundings between Miladummadulu and North Malosmadulu (PI. 8 a, 

 fig. 5) seem to indicate that a tongue of deep water extends northward from 

 the centre of the channel between Fadiffolu and Miladummadulu (PI. 3) 

 towards the northern part of the central basin, and also southward towards 

 the western point of Fadiffolu. 



We ran three lines of soundings across the northern part of the central 

 basin of the Maldives. 



A northern line across its narrowest part between Mavila (Miladumma- 

 dulu) and Furidu (North Malosmadulu) (PI. 8 a, fig. 5). 



One mile west of Mavila, we sounded in four hundred and twelve fathoms 

 (No. 70) with a bottom consisting of green coral sand mixed with broken 

 shells and Pteropods. Four and a half miles from the same point in the 

 centre of the channel, we obtained five hundred and thirteen fathoms 

 (No. 71) with a bottom of fine coral sand and Globigerina ooze. One mile 

 east of Furidu, we obtained two hundred and eighty-six fathoms (No. 72) 

 with fine coral sand and Globigerinae. The soundings we took off the 

 west coast of North Malosmadulu (PL 8 c, fig. 26) indicate a less steep slope 

 than further south, off the western part of the plateau. We obtained 

 off Ari (PL 8 c, fig. 25), at a distance of seven miles, a depth of nearly 

 fifteen hundred fathoms (No. 9) ; while off the coast of North Malosmadulu 

 we sounded in twelve hundred and forty-seven fathoms (No. 65), at a dis- 

 tance of eight miles. 



A second line across the northern basin ran from Kanifuri (Fadiffolu) to 

 Mabaru (South Malosmadulu) (PL 8c, fig. 28). 



