THE MALDIVE AND LACCADIVE ARCHIPELAGOES. iy 
factor, but the question is greatly complicated by the fact that the shoals in the circum- 
scribed lagoons are mere small patches of reef, at most a few hundred yards across, while 
the reefs on the open banks are often a mile or more in diameter. I shall have occasion 
later, in describing the changes and conditions in North Mahlosmadulu to discuss the 
meaning of this difference in the size of the interior reefs, but I may here point out 
that many of the interior islands of the northern banks are situated on the smallest rather 
than the largest of the lagoon shoals. There are, in fact, even in the most pertect atolls 
of the Maldives, numerous shoals quite as large as those which support some of the central 
islands on the open banks. Hence both the smallness of the lagoon shoals and the absence 
of land would seem to be determined by the atoll-form. In Tiladumati-Miladumadulu there 
are 65 reefs on the centre of the bank, of which only one has no land. In North Mahlos 
the percentage, if the “jungle” of reefs in the centre be omitted, would be in favour of 
those which have land, but in South Mahlos it is the other way. North Male, Ari and 
the two Nilandu have islands, but they are relatively few in all these banks. South Male 
and Felidu have islands only near passages or where the banks are open, and there are 
none in Mulaku, Kolumadulu and Haddumati save one in each atoll, situated right in a 
passage. Four are known to have existed in Fadifolu of which Moresby found two in 
1834; none now occur. The tendency for these islands to exist near passages is important 
as pointing to the possibilty of the currents and general change of water in the lagoons 
having a determining influence. 
Lastly as to the land on the rim-reefs of the banks it is noticeable that it lies rather 
on the east than the west side in all without determination of their position or form. In 
Tiladumati-Miladumadulu and North Mahlos every rim-reef of the east side has land, while 
in the former ten out of thirty-one and in the latter seven out of sixteen on the west 
side are devoid of such. Fadifolu is to some extent peculiar, but the character is well- 
marked in all the other banks. It might be pointed out that the strongest and heaviest 
winds and seas are from the westward rather than the eastward. These might be expected 
either to pile up coral and so form land, or perhaps, if land already exists, to wash it 
away. The former supposition is untenable in view of the absence of land, and the latter 
is largely discounted by the fact that Felidu and Mulaku, which must be to a large extent 
protected on their west sides by the opposite series of banks, are by far the best examples 
of the absence of land on the western reefs. The presence of land would seem then to 
have been determined on the formation of the group. 
Each bank, visited by us, in a measure exhibited different changes and conditions, in 
some one point appearing clearer than in others. It is impossible to give a succinct idea 
of the extent of the changes and of the varying characters without tracing them particularly, 
each in the bank which shows it best. North Mahlos' however shows most of the points 
and so may be taken as an example in the next chapter. 
1 In this bank I visited all the rim-reefs of the western rest being visited by Mr Forster Cooper. In addition I 
side except the two southern. On the east side I saw Fainu, crossed the atoll in six levels, and cruised in and out between 
Kenurus, Inguradu, Raskatteen and Wahdu, most of the the central reefs and islands. 
