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on which this mass reposes is far above the level to which 

 the coralline exuviae have been thi'own up by the hurricane. 

 If he pursues his way till he passes the isthmus that connects 

 the Morne de Brabant with the main land, and then turns 

 to the left, he will have to travel over a ledge of coral rock, 

 a mile perhaps in length, and in some parts not less than 

 sixty feet in thickness. It is of the same structure as that 

 already described, and nearly insulated by a salt-marsh into 

 which the sea flows at every spring- tide. This bank 

 terminates at the Bale du Cap, and in the charts of the 

 island is called Point de Corail. At Port Jacote, close by 

 the signal-post, there is a mass of coral, bearing the same 

 characters as the former, one hundred yards at least in 

 diameter, and nearly as many above the level of the sea. 



" At the Grand Port, there are numerous examples of the 

 same kind. The He des Aigrettes, three miles in circum- 

 ference, and lying a great way within the verge of the reef, 

 consists entirely of petrified coral; and though quite destitute 

 of soil, is covered with an impenetrable coppice. The Islets 

 Marianne, Vacois, Fouquet, and de la Passe, are of similar 

 structure, and also Monkey-Island, at the bottom of the bay. 

 The beds of the He de la Passe recline at the angle of 45°, 

 and the coral is so indurated as to have served the purpose of 

 stone, in constructing the barrack and battery erected upon that 

 island to defend the entrance of the Port. What is more 

 extraordinary, the dip of these beds is so far from being 

 conformable, that they incline in opposite directions, and at 

 a right angle with each other, on the opposite sides of the 

 island. In short, every accessory islet and rock within the 

 verge of the reef consists of the same material, with the 

 solitary exception of the He aux Fourneaux, the base of 

 which resembles that of the main island. 



" Such being the fact, it remains to be accounted for, how 

 these masses came to be placed in their actual situation. The 

 agency of hurricanes is out of the question in discussing the 

 existence of marine exuviae at a greater elevation than 

 fifteen or twenty feet above the ordinary reach of the sea ; and 

 their stratification, oblique in some cases, and their total want 



