NORTH MAHLOS BANK. 159 
of these channels with as great force as in the surface waters, and I consider that they 
have probably been cleared out and owe their origin to this cause. 
The general character of the whole bank may be seen by reference to the charts, but 
after this premiss I return to the consideration of the changes that are going on more 
particularly in North Mahlos, as also in all parts of the whole Mahlos bank (Plate XI. 
and fig. 32). Land is found on all the rim reefs of the east side, on some of the central 
reefs, and a few of the west reefs. The question as to whether this land owes its formation 
to elevation or to other causes is of great importance in view of Professor Agassiz’s work 
on the coral reefs and islands in various parts of the West Indies and of the Pacific Ocean’. 
The question of elevation and, if found, of its amount can only be discussed in reference 
to those parts of the land which are formed of coral rock, since sand may be piled up to 
a considerable height by the wind. No part of the rock at the present day, so far as I 
have seen in the Maldives, exceeds a height of 12 feet above high tide or 17 feet above 
the reef-flat, which everywhere shows the approximate level of the low tide. Sand does 
not, it is true, generally reach as great a height, but here and there dunes are found 
which greatly exceed it?» The island of Maregiri in North Mahlos (fig. 32) is an example, 
having a general level of 14 to 15 feet above the reef-flat with dunes of 30 feet or more. 
The whole island, as far as could be seen, is formed of sand with lines of sand-rock in 
the western beach. It is situated in a whirl of waters, and its reef is fully exposed to 
the south-west monsoon. The origin of the land in the first place is probably to be traced 
to the piling up of sand on a flat reef owing to these causes. Some of the dunes were 
evidently only the formation of the last south-west monsoon, many of the tree-stems being 
buried for 6 or 7 feet in the sand. Much of the latter will doubtless be levelled down, 
and spread over the land, but some will remain. A fresh monsoon will heap up more sand 
in the same places, and in this way permanent mounds will be formed, and the whole 
island raised in height. 
The rim islands of the east and south sides of the whole Mahlos bank have usually 
at their seaward ends belts or areas of recent coral rock, but this character is much less 
OPN re 
- NNN ee etn ty 
er NN 

Fic. 27. Kenurus Island. The rocky area of the land is shaded; the sandy area is, as in all these figures, left unshaded. 
AA, Lines of beach-sandstone. B. High ridge above the beach formed by piling up of coral-blocks. 
marked on the east than the south side. In Kenurus (fig. 27) the east end is formed 
entirely of coral rock, while the land behind is built up of sand alone. The island is 
1 Vide “ The Islands and Coral Reefs of Fiji,” Bull. Mus. by the artificial hollowing out of the islands for the purpose 
Comp. Zool. Harvard, vol. xxx11. 1899, and numerous other of forming planting land (totam). Among Maldivan people 
papers. such hollowing out is only doubtfully found in Minikoi, where 
2 The question is not complicated, as in the Laccadives, the race is largely intermingled with the Malabari. Vide p. 30. 
&: 21 
