THE MALDIVES 389 



mindful of the religious obligations of their woinenkind, 

 kept them as much out of sight as possible. 



The geological conditions found in the Maldives re- 

 minded Agassiz of those existing on the Yucatan Bank, 

 except that in the latter region the shoals are far less 

 numerous and the coral formations fewer and less de- 

 veloped. 1 



Far from being in a region of subsidence, Agassiz 

 was able to detect from the position of the modern con- 

 glomerate beach rock in the Maldives traces of a slight 

 elevation in many widely scattered parts of the groups. 

 Another objection to the theory that these atolls have 

 been formed by subsidence would appear to be shown 

 by the uneven nature of the bottom developed by the 

 soundings in the vicinity of the atolls, which show that 

 there are great differences in the depths of the banks. 

 This, on the theory of subsidence, would mean a very 

 improbably great and uneven difference in the subsi- 

 dence within short distances, while Agassiz always main- 

 tained that the theory demands a gradual and even 

 subsidence. The topography of this great Maldivian 

 Plateau is, however, no more irregular than that of any 

 mountain plateau that has not been elevated above sea 

 level. 



Asfassiz found the Maldives to be situated on a sub- 

 marine plateau on whose secondary plateaus corals have 

 established themselves wherever the bank is sufficiently 

 shallow to permit of their growth. The colored plate 

 shows the general appearance of a characteristic Mal- 

 dive atoll. It will be noticed that the rim is composed 



1 Agassiz considers that the reason the Alacran Reef is the only real 

 atoll on the Yucatan Plateau is because the locality is not in the region of 

 regular trades or monsoons. 



