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XIX. »To the wrstward of the New Ilebiiilcs line of elevation wc 

 »have New Caledoiiii snd tlie space iiichulcd hetween it and tho Anstni- 

 »Iian banier, wliich Flisders, on siccuiint of the numbci- of reefs, propo- 

 »sed to eall the Corallian soa. It is boiinded on two sidcs by the grandcst 

 » and must extiaordinar}^ reefs ia the world, and is likevase terminated 

 »to the northward hy the coyst of Louisiade , most dangerous on account 

 »of ifs distant reefs. This then according to our theory is an area of 

 »subsidence I may here rcmark that as the Barrier is snptiosed to be 

 »produc3d by the subsidence of the coast of the maiu land,.it may be ex- 

 » pected that any of the outlying islands would have formed lagoon islands. 

 »Nüw Bligh and ethers dis-.inctly state, that some of the islands ihere are 

 »prccise]y similar to the well known lagoon isLinds in the Pacific. There 

 » are a's) enciicled islands, so thai the three classes supposed to be pro- 

 »diiccd by the saine movementi are there found in juxtaposition, as like- 

 »wise happens, but in a less evident manner at New Caledonia and in 

 »the Society Archipelago." 



Before we have done we shall submit reasons for belie- 

 viug that this area is not one of subsidence, but only of in- 

 ferior elevation. Eegarding the lagoon islands, even if their 

 numbers were much greater than they are, we have already 

 indicated, that we are not reduced by their existence, to discuss 

 Mr. Dakwin's theory any farther, at least until he shows how 

 he has mauaged to make them, out of lagoon reefs, and we 

 know that whatever movements N. Eastern Australia and the 

 foundations of the Barrier may have made, previously to the 

 time of Captain Cook , not only is there not a partiele of evidence 

 to, shew that these have since subsided, but rather the reverse 

 some parts which were then altogether wavewashed reefs being 

 now partially clothed with vegetation, par exemple //the Eas- 

 tern fields; " and knowing as we do, that none of the numerous 

 isles or islets, situated in the vicinity of the New Caledonian 

 reef, lies outside of it, but all, or nearly all, not on it's top, 

 but inside , between ifc and the coast , some at miles of distance 

 from the foriner, his assertion respecting the origin of those 

 islcs therefore falls into the water of Lethe, leaving us to 

 adopt the probability that they are based on original eminences 



(1) Suery for Mr. Dinwiff. Is aot Vaaikoro one of lUe New Ilebrides range? 



(re? 



