J. STANLEY GARDINEB. 



;«_ riKivindifulu 

 '•■•' ^ 



'^' "if Tiladumati 



Makunutlu ' 



' ^ A« Fiij-Jinrdu 

 Mila<iumadulii^. 



„ KendHotv 



^ ■'\-J ^■'''/♦rCiS. Male 



! /•* A'Felidu 

 %s^* Ml/- 



«- -i^j ( ^^Wattaru 

 N Nilanduti'* 



S. Nilanrtu ■ ^ i; - 



Kolumadulu 



Haddumati ■' £><■■;' i,Oha«t 



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Fig. 2. Maldive Group, showing the 

 route of the expedition. Scale 

 60 miUs to 1 inch. 



wood, moderately seaworthy, but not laying within six points 

 of the wind. The Sultan also appointed Hassan Didi Velana- 

 nianikofanu, his third vizier, to accompany us, and gave orders 

 that every facility should be granted to us. After presenting 

 our offerings to the Sultan and his viziers, we sailed from Male 

 for Goifurfehendu (Horsburgh) atoll. 



We at once had a house built on Goidu island, from which as 

 centre we visited all the other land of the atoll and the greater 

 part of the reef A stay of altogether eleven days was made, 

 and everything was unpacked and properly stowed on the 

 schooner; the dredges and instruments were overhauled, and 

 indeed all preparations were completed for the work in Mahlos 

 and other atolls. The reef-animals were collected and preserved, 

 being sent by native boat to Male to await our an-ival. On 

 leaving Minikoi I brought with me two boys, whom I had 

 taught to collect in that atoll ; these I largely employed in 

 Goidu and subsequently in other islands in collecting the land 

 fauna and flora. 



The remainder of October, 1899, was spent in S. Mahlos- 

 madulu. This group of reefs really consists of three atolls, a 

 small central one separated from larger on each side by narrow 

 channels of over 100 fathoms in depth. The three lie on a 

 shallow bank, which tapers to the north but has a broad base 

 to the south-east. The plateau is studded all over with reefs, 

 the outside ones forming a chain round the* perimeters of the 

 three parts. The reefs along the west side of the bank are for 

 the most part ring-shaped, small atolls (atoUons or faro) with 

 deeper water (the lagoon or velu) in the centre. On the east 

 and south sides, however, isolated islands with fringing reefs 

 mostly form the boundaries. The general depth of the atolls 

 is about 27 fathoms, most of the channels between the numerous 

 encircling reefs having over 20 fathoms. 



The weather during our stay in S. Mahlos was extremely 

 calm, our vessel indeed being towed by boats from island to 

 island. This was singularly unfortunate, as usually strong winds 

 may be depended upon in November. We had hoped to syste- 

 matically dredge a large number of the deep channels between 

 the reefs, that edge the atoll. As their general depth is about 

 25 fathoms, this was found to be impracticable, rowing boats 

 not having .sufficient weight to carry even the smallest dredges 

 along a rough bottom at this depth. Accordingly we confined 

 ourselves to a traverse of the whole south of the atoll. Our 

 first anchorage was off Turadu, an island situated on the rim 

 of a somewhat ill-defined faro at the south-west corner of the 

 bank. We visited every part of its reef and collected a few 

 animals. The lagoon {velv) of the faro was dredged, yielding 



