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Gunner's Quoin, the nearest of the main-land and se- 

 parated from, it only by three or four miles of shallow 

 sea, appears as seen when passing in a vessel 

 quite near to it, to be a simple mass of volcanic rock, 

 presenting on its perpendicular western extremity, 

 lines of spurious stratification dipping on the one side 

 towards Mauritius, on the other side towards Flat Is- 

 land ; and corresponding in the dip so far as can be es- 

 timated by the eye, with the curves of spurious strati- 

 fication Avhich dip downwards on the opposite volcanic 

 rocks of Flat Island, so as to indicate the existence of 

 a basin between the two islands. This basin appears 

 to be of no great depth ; the soundings between Gun- 

 ner's Quoin and Flat Island, not exceeding, as I am 

 informed, sixty fathoms or 360 feet. I have not been 

 able to ascertain the depth of the sea between Gun- 

 ner's Quoin and the main land, but, in judging from 

 the violence of the waves between the two, it is not 

 probably so great as between the two former points. 

 The soundings between Flat, Round and Serpent Is- 

 londs, must, I think, from the appearance of the sea, 

 be of far greater depth, than those of the channel be- 

 tween Flat Island and Gunner's Quoin ; but I have 

 not been able to obtain any definite information, as to 

 the a<-tual depth. 



Flat Island, nearly circular in outline, and about a 

 mile in diameter, consists of two parts ; — a hill 380 

 feet high at its southern extremity, with a plateau of 

 the same volcanic rock beneath it, stretching north- 

 ward, and forming more than half the island. The 

 eastern part of the island is formed of sand-ridges some 

 of which rise to 30 feet above the mean sea-level and 

 are of considerable extent. A narrow sand-ridge on 

 the western shore, stretching northwards from the base 

 of the hill degenerates into a mass of loose coral and 

 finally into loose volcanic blocks and solid volcanic 

 rock o])posito Fidgcon Rock. This rock separated 

 from Flat Island by a very narrow channel is a large 

 volcanic block rising about 100 feet above the sea, with 

 a small flat apex and nearly perpendicular sides. 



The eastern boundary of the volcanic part of the is- 

 land stretches from the eastern base of the hill to the 



