92 THE CORAL REEFS OF THE MALDIVES. 



excellent view of the western shore of the island and of the part of the lagoon 

 enclosed by the wide rim of the reef flat on the western face of the faro. 

 The lagoon of Bilif uri is quite shallow ; its depth is not more than one and 

 a half to two fathoms ; its light-green color scarcely marking the outline 

 of the lagoon, blended as it is with the greenish tints of the wide rim 

 enclosing it, and covered with a few feet of water ; on the northern 

 face of the rim flat the sea breaks along the outer edge and all the way 

 across. Beyond the diminutive pass into the lagoon the outer edge of 

 the rim reef flat is flanked by a belt of heaps of shingle and of small 

 boulders. Magnificent coral patches dot the outer rim of Bilifuri as well 

 as of the eastern rim flat of the large faro to the north of it on the western 

 face of Miladummadulu. This large faro is over four miles in length, 

 pear-shaped ; the larger of the enclosed lagoons is open at the northern 

 extremity of the faro ; near the southern face a smaller circular lagoon 

 less than half a mile in diameter is enclosed by the wide crescentic reef 

 flat rim of the faro. The narrow sand bank on the eastern face of the 

 faro is scantily covered with trees and an outer belt of small bushes. 

 The beaches of the narrow islet of the faro to the north of Bilifuri are 

 flanked with beach rock, and near the northern point with a few boulders 

 at the base of the steep, coarse shingle beaches. Much of the beach rock 

 and some of the boulder reaches are undercut, pitted, honeycombed, and 

 greatly weathered. Stretches of this weathered coral boulder belt extend 

 along the northeastern face of the faro ; they indicate a former slightly 

 greater elevation. 



As we passed out of Miladummadulu west of Goadu, we steamed by the 

 long narrow channel leading into the lagoon at the tip of the northwest 

 horn of the faro to the west of Goadu, a mere strip of lighkblue water 

 flanked on both sides by a light-greenish flat rim. 



Kandute and Goadu are the two northernmost islands of the west face of 

 Miladummadulu. To the north of them a large elliptical faro nearly five 

 miles in length, with a spur off its eastern face, marks the artificial northern 

 boundary drawn east to west between Tiladummati and Miladummadulu. 

 Kandute and Goadu are both flanked with sandy beaches along the eastern 

 part of the faces of the islands, while steep shingle beaches surround the 



