THE MALDIVE AND LACCADIVE ARCHIPELAGOES. 155 
against them must be largely broken by the banks of the opposite line. As such the great 
resemblance between their slopes and those to leeward of the Lacecadive reefs is remarkable, 
the slopes to windward in both groups beimg approximately the same. 
The different banks (Plates IX. and X.) present among themselves at the present day 
great diversity of form in their surface-reefs. The smaller have a well-marked ring-shape 
independently of their position in the group, but the smallest of all, Toddu, is merely a 
reef almost completely covered with land 14 miles long by 1 mile broad. Karidu is a little 
larger; the island covers the south half of the shoal, the north part having an enclosing 
reef and shallow lagoon. Wattaru and Rasdu are small round atolls about 4 miles in 
diameter; the former has one small passage and an open lagoon with 19 fathoms of water, 
while the latter has two broad passages and lagoon, 21 fathoms deep, much filled in by small 
reefs. Goifurfehendu and Gafaro are slightly larger, being 9 and 7 by 4 miles; like Wattaru 
they have each a single small passage and open lagoons, 22 and 23 fathoms deep. The 
rest of the banks are much larger, but, independent of other considerations, position seems 
to be a definite factor in assisting them to assume the atoll-shape. In this same quality 
they present great variation, differences which are strongest between those at the two ends 
‘of the series. To the north the Tiladumati-Miladumadulu bank, 87 miles long by 11 to 20 
broad, has as a whole little semblance to an atoll. It indeed possesses merely a number 
of isolated reefs, by far the greater percentage crowned with land. Those on the edges of 
the bank tend to be rather more elongated than those in the centre, but it is only here 
and there that two or three lying together in close proximity form anything approaching 
a definite rim to the bank. The interior of the bank would be described as open. The 
reefs reaching the surface on it are few but relatively large, small patches such as are 
commonly found in reef-areas or atoll-lagoons being completely absent. Some of the reefs 
are themselves faro’, or small atolls, with definite little lagoons, or velu. The latter are 
usually shallow, seldom exceeding 10 fathoms in depth. Dureadu, however, in the centre 
of Miladumadulu is remarkable, being only one and a quarter miles in diameter but having 
16 fathoms in its velu. The Mahlos bank has a more definite series of reefs on its rim, 
large faro to the west but small isolated masses to the east and south. It has no central 
basin, the whole of the inner part being much broken and filled up with reefs awash, many 
small, indeed mere patches. Fadifolu is much smaller and has a well-defined rim to the 
east, little broken up, and a series of patches to the west. The lagoon is much more open 
than the last and to the south-east is almost clear of reefs. 
The banks of the eastern series as compared with Mahlos have progressively southwards 
better-defined rims and more open lagoons. North Male is clearly marked off on all sides 
by a series of large faro, mostly elongated in the direction of the rim of the whole bank. 
Its lagoon has small areas with numerous little patches of reef, but mostly it is open, 
1 The technical term atoll is derived from the Maldivan 
atolu, signifying a province for governmental purposes. 
There are 13 of these in the Maldives, and many consist 
of the islands on separate banks, most of which have distinct 
encircling series of reef reaching the surface. Many of the 
individual reefs are themselves ring-shaped with pools of 
water several fathoms deep in their centres. There are 
obvious disadvantages in using diminutives of the terms 
atoll and lagoon as applying to such. They are situated on 
shallow banks, and many are actually larger than some of 
the isolated ring-shaped reefs of the Pacific, which arise 
separately in the deep basin of that ocean. I therefore 
propose to borrow further the Maldivan terms, faro and velu, 
the former signifying such a small ring-shaped reef of an 
atoll or bank and the latter its central basin. I further, 
following the Maldivan use of the term velu, apply it to deep 
pools even in the long, linear, circumscribing reefs of many 
of the banks, as I conceive that such pools have in all these 
reefs on banks the same mode of origin. 
