116 THE CORAL REEFS OF THE MALDIVES. 



The western edges of the faros are bordered with shingle jetties running 

 at right angles to the sea face ; some of them terminate in small sand islets. 

 The island of Rakidu is built up of two adjacent islands, which have become 

 united ; the old gap once separating the two islets is still plainly visible 

 when seen from the centre of the channel. On the western spit of Rakidu, 

 a number of cocoanut-trees have fallen on the reef flat and near the beach ; 

 the position of the bushes and vegetation covering other parts of the shore 

 of the island indicates a certain amount of wasting away of the western and 

 northwestern portion of the island. 



Steaming to the eastward inside of Felidu, we skirted the reef flat 

 to the east of Rakidu, along this extends a very narrow lagoon not shown 

 on the chart, unless it be the extension of the long spit running into the 

 lagoon, and indicated on the chart about a mile west of Buri Hura Island. 

 The whole length of the edge of the western rim of this narrow lagoon is 

 covered by a long line of small yellow angular boulders, greatly pitted, 

 honeycombed, and undercut, an outlier of reef rock rising somewhat above 

 the surrounding reef flat. 



To the north of the spit rises a well-defined faro about a mile in diameter 

 with a comparatively deep lagoon, judging by its color. An islet with low 

 bushes lies on its eastern rim, and on the northern rim a patch of reef rock 

 undercut, pitted, and honeycombed indicates that this faro is probably of 

 greater age than many central faros we have thus far seen. 



The northern face of Buri Hura is also wasting away. Fallen cocoanut- 

 trees are seen on the beaches and reef flats adjoining the island. To the 

 west of Buri Hura Island a large outlying block of honeycombed reef rock 

 rises from the inner edge of the reef flat; on the southern sea face of Felidu 

 a long line of angular boulders forming a long low wall of perhaps eighteen 

 inches in height runs along the outer edge of the reef flat on both sides of 

 Buri Hura. This belt of coral boulders is undercut, pitted, and honey- 

 combed, and greatly resembles the patches of reef rock we saw on the inner 

 face of the reef flat. 



While crossing the atoll of Felidu from Buri Hura to Keadu, we passed 

 to the eastward of a bank covered with angular boulders of reef rock, 

 rising in the centre to a height of about eighteen inches. The boulders are 



