137 



"imperishable; that is as imperishable as any part of the 

 "solid land, all of which must some day suffer decay and 

 " renovation." 



Mr. Gardner only mentions it in a very cursory manner, 

 which is the more surprising as he was an excellent Geologist. 

 He says, " We anchored off the Port, and after the lapse of an 

 "hour and a half a Pilot came on board and conducted us 

 " into the harbour, which is quite a natural one, being formed 

 " by the Reef that runs along the coast, at a little distance 

 " from the shore. The entrance is through a breach, upon the 

 " south side of which is a lighthouse and small fort : a very 

 " heavy swell runs outside the reef and breaks over it, but 

 " there is always calm water within ; and at fall tide there 

 " is always water sufficiently deep to float the largest merchant 

 "vessels that visit the port." 



On his journey southward to the Eiver Sao Pranciso, he 

 says in reference to part of the coast, which I apprehend was 

 near Eio Pormoso, — " The land rises here higher than at any 

 "other place between Pernambuco and Maceio, the faces of 

 " several low hills exhibiting a kind of coarse-grained sand- 

 " stone rock, exactly of the same nature as the reef which runs 

 "for several hundred miles along the coast both to the north 

 " and south of Pernambuco." And then, after sayiug that it 

 is covered with small shells and coralloid substances, he quotes 

 Mr. Darwin's opinions : — and adds, " But neither of these 

 " suppositions, I feel fully satisfied, account for the origin of 

 "the reef; because, at the place where we now were, I could 

 " trace at low water a rocky connection between the reef and 

 "the rocks of which the hills were composed. It is more pro- 

 " bable that the reef owes its origin to the decay of the rock 

 " between it and the shore, but in what manner I will not 

 "attempt to explain. This sandstone, as I will afterwards 

 " show, belongs to the lower series of the chalk formation." 



You have here Darwin's opinion that it was either a bar of 

 sand and pebbles, formerly existing under the water, first con- 

 solidated and then elevated, or that it was a long spit of sand 



