86 THE CORAL REEFS OF THE MALDIVES. 



coral shingle beach of the northeast face is edged by a belt of boulders ; as 

 far as we could judge from the charts, and from what we saw of the small 

 islands to the north and west of Ma Faro, they present no special features 

 of interest. The deep pass with a depth of ten fathoms leading into the 

 lagoon of Ma Faro, with its islets in the reef flats in addition to its larger 

 island flanking the east face, gives to that faro all the appearance of a 

 small atoll. 1 



Kendikolu (PI. 37) is one of the largest reef flats of the southern part of 

 the east face of Miladummadulu, the greater part of which is occupied by 

 the island of Kendikolu, one of the largest in the Maldives. It is steep to 

 on the east face ; the western face is occupied by a comparatively narrow 

 reef flat somewhat wider at the northern extremity. The southern point of 

 Kendikolu is bordered by steep shingle beaches, while all the way to the 

 north extends a magnificent steep coral sand beach. Corals grow in great 

 profusion on the slope off the western face of Kendikolu. The island is 

 noted for the long sinks which occupy the greater part of the central 

 portion of the island. We visited the northern one (PI. 38); it is some- 

 what nearer the eastern face of the island, separated from it only by a 

 narrow ridge of shingle and of sand. The depth of this brackish pool is 

 only about eighteen inches ; its shores are overgrown with mangroves. 

 There are many Pandanus, Hibiscus, Breadfruit, and other forest trees on 

 Kendikolu; the vegetation is quite dense. 



The islands on the eastern face of Miladummadulu to the north of Ken- 

 dikolu, as far as Nalandu (Pis. 2, 3), proved most interesting. In general 

 they are small crescentic islands occupying a greater or less area of the 

 edge of the rim reef flat of the faro encircling in part a small lagoon. From 

 this stage we find all possible conditions of development from a closed ring 

 surrounding a diminutive lagoon or only a sink in an island where all trace 

 of its mode of formation has disappeared. 



Komandu (PI. 36, fig. 2) is a circular island, steep to, with large boulders 

 on the south beach ; a coarse shingle beach extends round the eastern face, 

 and a steep sand beach flanks the west side. A small reef flat covered with 

 shingle extends off the north point. The vegetation of both Komandu and 



1 Ma Faro is three and a half miles long, Gardiner, loc. cit., p. 395. 



